The Last Living Slayer
by Nitrowugs
Summary: With the new power within her following the events of 'Empty Places' in season 7 of BtVS, Buffy decides to take matters into her own hands. This story is strictly AU.
1. The Last Living Slayer Index

**The Last Living Slayer**

Author: Nitrowugs

Rating: PG

Pairings: A/C hinted at in later chapters, B/A ending

Feedback: Please. Constructive criticism is always welcome.

Disclaimer: I do not own anything associated with BtVS and AtS. (Characters, plots, and dialogue from the shows are borrowed with no infringement intent whatsoever.)

Distribution: Please ask and let me know where it's going.

Summary: With the new power within her following the events of 'Empty Places' in season 7 of BtVS, Buffy decides to take matters into her own hands.

A/N1: This story is strictly AU. I have greatly altered events and time lines from the original shows. At times this story may seem anti-Cordelia but that is not my intent. That should be made clear before the story ends. If this offends you, you might not want to read this story.

A/N2: This is the last of my 'Empty Places' therapy. I think I'm on the road to recovery (as long as I don't watch 'Empty Places' again).

Started: 06/01/2010

Completed: 07/06/2010

Index

Chapter 1 – It Started With Rejection

Chapter 2 – The End of the First?

Chapter 3 – With Love in Her Heart

Chapter 4 – The Journey Begins

Chapter 5 – Skip Tells It All

Chapter 6 – To the Rescue

Chapter 7 – Life Goes On

Chapter 8 – Hello And Goodbye

Chapter 9 – Plans

Chapter 10 – Dawn Comes to a Realization

Chapter 11 – Preparing for War

Chapter 12 – One Plan Fails

Chapter 13 – The End of Glorificus

Chapter 14 – The Clean-Up


	2. It Started With Rejection

**The Last Living Slayer**

Author: Nitrowugs

Rating: PG

Pairings: A/C hinted at in later chapters, B/A ending

Feedback: Please. Constructive criticism is always welcome.

Disclaimer: I do not own anything associated with BtVS and AtS. (Characters, plots, and dialogue from the shows are borrowed with no infringement intent whatsoever.)

Distribution: Please ask and let me know where it's going.

Summary: With the new power within her following the events of 'Empty Places' in season 7 of BtVS, Buffy decides to take matters into her own hands.

A/N: This story is strictly AU. I have greatly altered events and time lines from the original shows. At times this story may seem anti-Cordelia but that is not my intent. That should be made clear before the story ends. If this offends you, you might not want to read this story.

Chapter 1 - It Started With Rejection

Started: 06/01/2010

Completed: 06/15/2010

Buffy's heart ached; her friends, her watcher, even her sister had made it clear that they did not trust her to lead them anymore. She could understand the potentials' mistrust of her; they didn't know her. The others did. For years the others had fought with her against the evil that existed in Sunnydale and now they didn't trust her. She couldn't let them see how much their words had hurt her. She knew where she had to go, even if she had to go alone. She came down the stairs with her head held high careful to mask what she was feeling inside. She was dressed in what has been termed her 'kick-ass fighting clothes' and she was 'armed for bear'. She wore comfortably fitting blue jeans, a pull-over tee, the black leather jacket given to her by Angel years before and black leather knee-high boots. She had weapons hidden in various easy to access places on her person, a crossbow was slung over her back and she carried her weapons bag that included Mr. Gordo stuffed safely inside. She headed for the front door without looking at anyone in the room. Before she reached the door, Dawn ran up to her and caught her by the arm.

"Buffy, where are you going?"

Buffy jerked her arm away and turned to face Dawn. With a voice void of emotion she said quietly, "Get away from me. From now on you're the same as them," indicating her 'friends' with a jerk of her head, "you're nothing to me."

With that she walked out the door. She threw her weapons onto the passenger seat of her mother's car that was still parked on the street, walked around to the driver's side of the car and climbed in. Buffy drove straight to the vineyard. Leaving her weapons bag, her crossbow and her jacket in the car she strolled confidently inside. Caleb attacked as soon as Buffy entered. She dodged him and jumped down an escape hatch where she met the Guardian and found a special weapon – a Scythe. The Guardian explained the features of the scythe and its significance to Buffy. Caleb attacked again and as they fought he managed to get the upper hand and the scythe. Just as he was about to finish Buffy off he received a punishing blow to the side of the head. Buffy looked up.

"Angel."

"Hi," he said casually, "I thought you could use a hand."

"You're right on time, as usual," Buffy said with a grateful sigh. Before she could say anything else, out of the corner of her eye she saw Caleb approaching again; this time she was ready for him. She made destroying Caleb look easy thanks to her new scythe.

"Now, what are you doing here?" she asked Angel.

"I have some information that I thought you could use. Plus I have this." He pulled an amulet on a chain out of his pocket and handed it to Buffy. "I'm not sure what this does, but you might be able to use it. The instructions are inside." He handed her a folder containing several documents that he had retrieved from Wolfram & Hart along with the amulet. "Read this over and see if any of the information is useful."

"Okay."

"I have to get back; I'm needed in LA, but I had to bring this to you as soon as I got it. Please come to LA when this is over. I have to know that you are all right." 

"Okay, I will. Thanks."

With that Angel left and headed back to LA.

End of Chapter 1 


	3. The End of the First?

Chapter 2 – The End of the First?

Started: 06/03/2010

Completed: 06/06/2010

Buffy sat in the car and read the information in the folder that she had received from Angel. She threw the folder onto the back seat of the car, stuffed the amulet into the front pocket of her jeans and drove back to the house on Revello Drive (she refused to think of it as her house any longer).

Carrying the scythe she used her key to let herself into the house. Those in the house fired questions at her which she ignored. "What is she doing back here?" "Buffy, where did you get that weapon you're carrying? What is it?" "Is that blood on your clothes? Were you in a fight?" She went upstairs to her bedroom (no not her bedroom, never again would it be her bedroom) where Faith was sleeping. Buffy did not disturb her. She retrieved clean clothes from her closet and dresser drawers and went into the bathroom to take a shower; she took the scythe with her. Once she was dressed she retrieved her mother's overnight bag and packed a change of clothing for herself. She picked up the overnight bag and the scythe and was heading for the door when Faith spoke for the first time.

"I didn't mean for this to happen, B. I want you to know that."

Buffy turned around and looked directly at her. "Maybe you didn't mean for it to happen, but you didn't try to stop it either. I should thank you really; you actually did me a favor."

"What was that?"

"You gave me a way out. I'm taking it."

"You're not coming back, are you?"

"No." She continued through the door, down the stairs and out of the house again ignoring whatever questions were thrown at her.

Buffy drove to the high school and parked near the entrance. Following a path she knew very well, she descended the stairs leading to the basement and to the seal that covered the mouth of hell. She carried the scythe. After reciting the incantation she had memorized from the folder of information from Wolfram & Hart, Buffy found herself standing over a huge crater filled with what looked like thousands of Turok-Hans who were being addressed by what she knew to be the First Evil since it looked exactly like Buffy herself.

Buffy removed the amulet from the pocket of her pants. Holding the amulet out to the side away from her body and facing the vampires as the instructions had indicated, she yelled boldly, "Hey, guys, I've got a little something for ya. Come and get it."

As the Turok-Hans started climbing up the side of the crater, Buffy closed her eyes and called upon the Powers for help. A bright light burst forth from the amulet. It shot upward and outward flooding the entire cavern and searing every vampire and Bringer that it touched. It faded as quickly as it had started leaving all of the vamps dusted and Buffy and the First Evil facing each other. With its army destroyed the First Evil was so weakened it reverted to its true form but could not stand. With the last of its strength it swore vengeance upon Buffy and the slayer line as it winked out of sight.

After returning the seal to the Hellmouth and reinforcing it so that it could never be reopened, Buffy walked up the stairs and out of her former place of employment. She felt as if she was floating as she walked from the high school to her car. The night air felt fresh and clean and she felt as if a great burden had been lifted from her shoulders. She was free, her life was her own and her future lay straight ahead of her, bright and full of promise and her own to determine.

She hadn't planned to do so, but she returned to the house on Revello Drive one more time. When she entered she ignored everyone else and walked directly up to Giles who was sitting at the dining room table with Willow, Xander and Anya.

"Buffy, what…."

She looked directly at him careful to control the power that pulsed within her, power that she could feel growing stronger every minute. She spoke quietly. "Get everyone down here, Giles. I have something to say to all of you and I'm only going to say this once, in two minutes."

Giles spoke hurriedly to the others in a loud voice, "Everyone get down here, now!"

Two minutes later even as others were still clamoring from various parts of the house, Buffy spoke again. "Caleb is dead; all of the Bringers are dead and all of the Turok-Hans have been destroyed thus defeating the First Evil and it has been sent back to hell where it belongs. The Hellmouth is closed until the First is again powerful enough to make its presence known in this dimension and it cannot do that until the balance between good and evil is once again tipped in its favor." She looked at the potentials. "That's where you come in. Faith is now the rightful slayer on the Hellmouth." She turned to look at her former watcher. It hurt her to think of Giles that way, but she was still hurting from what had happened earlier in the night, particularly Giles' actions.

"Giles you need to find watchers for these potential slayers so that they will already be properly trained when they are needed. I have to leave. Unless I am needed here for some world-ending emergency I will be away for a while. I will not be in communication with any of you during that time and I will not allow anyone to find me." She briefly glanced over at Willow before continuing. "Don't try." She turned and walked out of the house leaving a stunned silence in her wake.

End of Chapter 2


	4. With Love In Her Heart

Chapter 3 – With Love in Her Heart

Started: 06/03/2010

Completed: 06/06/2010

Buffy drove directly to LA, to Angel.

As she approached his office she heard Angel's voice; she was about to enter when she heard Angel declare his love for Cordelia. Buffy's heart and all of her hope were once again shattered. Angel heard her quick intake of breath and turned to see her standing in the doorway.

"Buffy, I'm sorry. I didn't mean for you to hear it like that. I didn't want to tell you when I was in Sunnydale before your fight with the First because I didn't want to distract you."

With much effort to keep her emotions under control, Buffy thanked him for his help with the information and the amulet that were instrumental in defeating the First. She returned the amulet to him and turned to leave. She walked a few steps and paused; she turned, walked back to Angel, put her right hand over his heart and whispered a few words that he did not recognize. Angel doubled over in pain. When he opened his eyes again he whispered Buffy's name. She simply said, "Be happy, Angel," and turned to leave without another word.

She heard Cordelia ask Angel, "What did she do to you?"

And Angel's reply -

"I think she anchored my soul; I think it's permanent. I can't even hear Angelus anymore."

He called after Buffy but she didn't answer; she walked out of the door and out of his life.

End of Chapter 3 


	5. The Journey Begins

Chapter 4 – The Journey Begins

Started: 06/03/2010

Completed: 06/06/2010

Buffy got back into her car and sat for a few minutes. She did a spell that would protect herself from being found by any magic, no matter how powerful and she put a glamour and a spell on the scythe to make it appear to be an ordinary umbrella that would appear as such on airport security scanners; she then drove to the airport. She parked her car in long-term parking and took a plane to a small coastal town in Massachusetts to the home of her mother's family.

One of her cousins, Janea, met her at the airport and informed her that their nana was waiting for her.

"How did she know I was coming?" Buffy asked.

Janea replied, "You're joking, right?"

When they arrived at the home of her great-grandparents, she was escorted to a separate wing of the house. As she entered she heard, "Welcome my daughter. I have waited many years for you. I knew that you would come."

Buffy hadn't seen her great-grandmother since she was a little girl. This woman looked to be only a few years older than Joyce. 'This couldn't possibly be Mom's grandmother,' Buffy thought to herself.

As if hearing Buffy's thoughts, the woman continued, "I am indeed Joycie's grandmother." She smiled to herself as if recalling a secret only she knew. "You will find that the women in our family tend to age well."

She pushed a button on the side of her recliner to adjust it so that she could sit up straight and looked closely at Buffy who resisted the urge to squirm. "You are just becoming aware of your power," she stated.

"Yes." Buffy answered as if the woman had asked a question.

"You are destined to become the most powerful wielder of white magic on earth. In two and a half years by the end of your training you will have reached full power; you will be more powerful than any full coven has ever been.

"At the first full moon following the end of your training you will be anointed in a ceremony performed by the Oracles, this world's representatives for the Powers That Be. At that ceremony if you have met with the Powers' approval, and I see no reason that you haven't, after all they hand-picked you to be their slayer, the Powers themselves will grant you, not true immortality, but invulnerability.

"So you see you are our best hope for ridding the earth of evil demons and hybrids (vampires and other mixed breeds). Once this is accomplished, you will be given a choice, final death and a return to heaven or true immortality."

Buffy stood there with her mouth open not knowing what to say.

"You must be tired after your trip. Have something to eat and get settled. Have a good night's sleep, my daughter. Your journey will begin tomorrow morning. I'm looking forward to it," she said with a smile.

When Buffy left the room, the older woman adjusted her recliner until she was comfortable and closed her eyes. The smile on her face was a combination of contentment and excitement.

Buffy woke the next morning well rested and refreshed. All of the tension and anxiety from the previous days and weeks were gone and she felt anxious to get on with her life. She called out "Come in" to a knock on her bedroom door just as she finished brushing her hair.

Janea entered. "Morning, Buffy. How are you feeling? Did you sleep well?"

"Good morning, Janea. I feel wonderful this morning. I slept like a log."

"Are you ready to leave? Don't bother taking anything. Everything that you will need has already been sent over, including your scythe."

"Over where? What are you talking about?" Buffy asked, totally confused.

"Oh, I guess Grand M (the name everyone called her great grandmother) didn't tell you everything last night. Well no matter, come along, she's waiting for you." She gave Buffy a tight hug. "I'm so glad that you're with us, Buffy. I'll see you in two and a half years. You're in for a wonderful adventure. Enjoy yourself."

With that Janea left the room and, not knowing what else to do, Buffy followed.

Janea and Buffy found Grand M in what looked to be a sun room because it was so bright, but it couldn't be because there were no windows and no visible source of light. She was wearing a long robe that sparkled as she moved. "We are ready to begin your journey, my daughter," she said as she reached for Buffy's hand. She whispered a few words and a portal opened in front of them and the two of them stepped through.

In an instant Buffy found herself standing before a large crowd of smiling people who were welcoming her with greetings and applause. Some of them she recognized.

"Uncle Sy?" she said running into the open arms of a smiling elderly gentleman who hugged her warmly. Over his shoulder she saw someone else that she recognized. "Uncle Roman?" She ran from one relative to another so happy to see them again. It seemed that all of her mother's family was here to welcome her.

"Don't I get a hug too?" Buffy heard a familiar voice ask. She spun around and

"M-m-mom? W-whaa?" she tried to ask as she keeled over and was caught by her Uncle Eugene.

"I knew this would be too much for her," Joyce said as she patted her daughter's hand trying to revive her.

Buffy opened her eyes. "Mom. Oh, Mom, is it really you?"

"Yes honey, it's really me."

"Mom, I thought you were dead. How could you let me think that you died?"

"I'm sorry, honey, but it had to be this way. I had to come here to help prepare for your training. You could not be allowed to know about this. The Powers were very specific about that."

Grand M stepped forward, not the oldest one there but the recognized royal matriarch of the family.

"Here in this place are all of your relatives and ancestors that the Powers have chosen to participate in your training. One at a time they will give you their power and teach you how to use and control it. You will be introduced to everyone today in the order in which they will participate and after your initial briefing your training will begin.

"What lies ahead of you may seem daunting at first, but trust me when I say that you will take to it like a duck takes to water.

"I know that you have questions now probably starting with 'Where are we?' I will let your mother answer your initial questions and the three of us will meet this evening. Agreed?"

Buffy could only nod in the affirmative.

By the time she met with her mother and great grandmother that evening Buffy had learned so much that under ordinary circumstances she would be expecting her head to be about ready to explode, but now she digested everything and couldn't wait for more.

She had learned, for example, that she and her family were currently in an alternate dimension that had been assigned to her family by the Powers and had been considered home by her family for centuries.

The 'home house' (that they were currently in) was huge and consisted of suites of rooms or small apartments for family members that were still alive and chose to visit the 'home dimension'; each family member who had died and been resurrected to the home dimension either had their own place of residence or shared a residence with other family members.

Time moved differently here; a year here was only a few weeks in her normal dimension. Joyce had visited here many times when she was having trouble with her husband before their divorce and at times when she was pretending to be on buying trips for her art gallery.

Joyce's illness and death had been caused by a spell performed by Grand M without Joyce's knowledge so that her reactions would be realistic; also Joyce's doctor was a long time servant of the Powers. Joyce knew from the beginning who Dawn really was and it wounded her deeply to know that her real daughter had to be sacrificed to save Dawn.

Many of her relatives and all of her ancestors here had actually died and been resurrected to this dimension by the Powers. The meeting with Joyce had gone on and on. Buffy had been shocked out of her reality when she saw the kind of power that her mother could wield.

"Mom, so you knew all along that I was a slayer? Why didn't you ever let me know any of this?"

"I couldn't, honey. I was not allowed. It would have destroyed any chance you had for reaching the goals that the Powers have in store for you. Now, do you have any other questions for me?"

"I don't think so," Buffy said. "You've taught me so much already. I had no idea that you knew so much about so many things."

"Since before you were born we have all spent many years in this place training and preparing for this day and all of it was more than worth it. If at any time you need me, you know where my room is or you can summon me by saying these words." Joyce handed her a piece of paper.

Buffy had the words memorized in an instant. "How come I didn't have this kind of mind power in high school?" she asked.

"You did. Remember your grades in elementary and middle school and how well you did on your SATs without studying for them? You simply tapped into reserves you didn't know that you had. This ability will improve over time. By the time you leave here you will be able to recall any bit of information you've ever heard or read. That's your Aunt Jean's department."

"Wow. I just always thought that she was really, really smart."

"Oh she is. She is also a whiz at instant recall."

"I can't wait to get started, to learn more."

Joyce smiled at her daughter. "Remember what Grand M said about a duck taking to water? Honey you are going to be magnificent. I can see it already."

"I just hope I don't disappoint anyone."

Joyce smiled again and said, "Not a chance."

End of Chapter 4


	6. Skip Tells It All

Chapter 5 – Skip Tells It All

Started: 06/05/2010

Completed: 06/10/2010

A/N: In the meantime back in LA life goes on. I have made the assumption that the AI Team took over W&H before Jasmine was born and they still have the Hyperion Hotel. This chapter is rated PG for off-color words.

Cordelia had disappeared, again. Angel managed to capture Skip and the AI team had him enclosed in a force field in the Hyperion Hotel lobby. Their intentions were to find out whatever information they could from him about Cordelia's whereabouts.

"You're saying her ascension and return were all part of this thing's plan?" Wesley asked.

"No, Cordelia was chosen because she's such a pure, radiant saint." Skip scoffed. "Puh-lease. The only person I'm aware of that went to paradise and returned is that little slayer in Sunnydale. Cordelia was chosen because of all of those close to the slayer she was the easiest to corrupt."

"You've been after her since Sunnydale?" Wes asked incredulously.

"What can I say? We do make long range plans." Skip chuckled. "As for 'being after her', we weren't 'after her'; we had her from the start."

"What about her visions? Her ascension? The Powers That Be couldn't be in on this."

Skip chuckled again. "The visions? You think low-level messengers like Doyle have the power and authority to pass visions from the Powers on to whomever they choose? Not even the Oracles can do that. The Powers themselves are the only ones who choose their messengers.

"As for her ascension, we simply held Cordelia out of the way until it was time to put the next phase of our plan into action." He looked at Angel with a smirk. "Oh and gave her a little history lesson while she waited. Who says that Cordelia is not a good actress? She fooled all of you, didn't she?" He chuckled once again. "But then it didn't take much.

"We saw Cordelia's potential while she was still in Sunnydale. She tried to hide her insane jealousy of the slayer from the beginning, but it was so obvious, anyone who really looked at her could see it.

"Angel, why do you think she got invited to that party where you first ran into her in LA? We had to keep an eye on you and what better way than through someone that you thought you could already trust? When we saw Doyle's lust for her, we knew that our work would be a whole lot easier. He would convince you to keep her around.

"Now that I think about it, if we had known from the start that you would be so easy to manipulate, we would never have sent Joyce to talk to you; we would have left you in Sunnydale. But…nah…the slayer was too much of a positive influence on you. We had to get you away from her. That's really the reason we sent Joyce to talk to you." He chuckled again as if enjoying some private joke that the others weren't privy to. "She too was so easy; put one idea into her head and away she went.

"Of course the slayer was our first choice, but that didn't work out. We had been watching her since she was called. It was pretty obvious early on that she would cause problems for us, especially with you, the ensouled vampire in the picture, but we weren't about to give up so easily.

"We knew that we couldn't corrupt the slayer, but we could still make things difficult for her, break her. And believe me, we tried, even after you left her, when she was most vulnerable; it didn't work.

"Nothing we tried worked – allowing that demon to be planted into her house and convincing her that it was her sister, making her think her mother had died, sending her boyfriend away on some phony jungle mission, having her watcher desert her – even pulling her out of heaven and allowing the witch to take credit for it. As if a human could access heaven using black magic. Hunh. People will fall for anything.

"Buuut…all of it was for naught." He scoffed loudly. "Pity. It would have been such a feather in our cap to have been able to sway her to our way of thinking; buuut, (he made a sucking sound with his tongue) I have to give the Powers credit; they knew what they were doing when they chose Buffy Summers for their slayer.

"Of course we still had our second choice. (More chuckling) And she was always ripe for the picking."

Wes remembered something he had said in his ramblings. "Wait a minute. What do you mean by 'They chose Buffy Summers for _their_ slayer'? The Powers don't hand pick the slayers."

"Not usually, no, but then Miss Summers is not just any slayer, she is _the_ slayer, the one destined to be the last living slayer, the end of the slayer line, if she stays true to her calling. Why do you think the Council didn't know about her until she was fifteen?"

"My gods, does Buffy know this? Does Mr. Giles know?"

"I don't know whether or not her watcher knows, but I'm pretty sure that she knows by now and her training should be almost complete. After all, the Powers know as well as we do what is coming; they just can't tell their champions about it. That would be breaking the rules," he said with a wicked grin.

Wes (as well as the others) was getting confused. "What training? What _are_ you talking about?"

"Look do you mind if I sit down? This is tiring."

Fred brought a chair for the demon still holding the gizmo that kept the force field in place.

Skip gave it a derisive look and said, "Oh, and you might as well turn off your little force field there."

To which Angel was quick to reply, "Not a chance."

"You don't seriously think that force field is holding me, do you? Puh-lease!" Skip stepped out of the light of the force field that should have been restraining him, thanked Fred for the chair and sat down.

"Now," he said matter-of-factly, "regarding the training. Miss Summers is being trained to control the power of the white magic that has been dormant within her since she was born and is just now manifesting itself within her.

"But then Team Angel doesn't keep in touch with what's going on in Sunnydale, do you? You don't know that everyone turned against her, including her friends and her watcher, and kicked her out of her own house.

"You don't know that she alone faced and defeated the First Evil's army of Turok-Hans and weakened the First so much that it could no longer exist in this plane and that she alone closed and sealed the Hellmouth, and came running here with love and hope in her little heart and soul for you only to find you declaring your love for an entity that isn't even human, let alone the real Cordelia.

"And what do you do? You stand there making some lame ass excuse while her world falls apart around her. Then after she secures your soul, you let her walk away without so much as a thank you.

"I must say Angel, it looks like we had you pegged all wrong. Maybe it should have been you that we were after all along instead of Angelus. Only a cold-hearted bastard of the first order could have succeeded in doing what you did to the Powers' chosen one. Hehehe. You succeeded where we couldn't in breaking the slayer. And you've done it over and over again."

Angel felt ashamed at Skip's words. "I never meant to hurt Buffy. I thought I was in love with Cordy; I know now that I'm not."

"Yeah, yeah," the demon said derisively. "The fact is that you did and she has never recovered. Oh she's put up a good front, but deep inside she is as heartbroken now as she was the day you disappeared into smoke after helping to abort the mayor's ascension. I must say, I don't know who is the better actress, she or Cordelia."

This time Angel interrupted Skip's musings remembering something that he had said. "Hold on a minute. What do you mean 'isn't the real Cordelia'? Of course she's the real Cordelia."

Skip gave an exasperated sigh. "Aw right. I might as well tell you the whole story."

It seems that once he got started talking, there was no shutting him up.

"There's nothing you can do about it anyway. Angel, you haven't seen the real Cordelia since the day that she decided to become part demon. How someone will agree to become part demon and not even ask which demon it will be or how it will impact them is beyond me. But, that's our Cordy."

"What? I don't believe you. If what you say is true, then who the hell has been here with us all of this time and where is the real Cordelia and who are you working for anyway?"

Skip heaved a deep sigh. "Well, let's see; who has been here? Various shape shifters have moved into and out of this assignment as we saw the need for them here or elsewhere. As for your other two questions, you wouldn't believe me if I told you."

Angel growled loudly at him and demanded, "Try me."

"Okay," he said, taking his time as if he didn't have a care in the world. "The real Cordelia," he said using his fingers to make double quotes in the air, "is in _the_ pent house at the headquarters of the LA branch of Wolfram and Hart, not that little 'room with a view' that you occupy, the _real_ pent house, and is well on her way to becoming a member of a select group of beings vying to become second in line to the Senior Partners in this realm."

Wesley interrupted him. "But what about the visions?"

"Are you still hung up on that? Did you notice that she didn't have a vision every day? On the days that she didn't have a vision we simply couldn't telepathically link to the being that was here playing Cordelia. When we could, we would simply let her replacement know of something that was going on in the city and they would pass the word along to AI. Hell, sometimes we created the problem situations ourselves. It was so funny to see you guys running around with your little weapons, rushing to the rescue."

"What about the day that I was human? Did you and your people have anything to do with that?" Angel wanted to know.

"Of course not. We didn't want you human; at the time, we still thought that we needed Angelus. It was just dumb luck on your part that you ran into that Morah demon. I must say you really had us in a tizzy that day, what with you being near human and all; there was no way for us to get to Angelus.

"You could have stopped us in our tracks right then if you had just asked the Oracles to return to you the physical attributes of the vampire, you know strength, heightened senses, healing ability, instead of making you what you were. Angelus would have been lost to us forever; you and the little slayer could have done the happy ever after thing and Connor would never have existed. But you didn't.

"Kudos, Angel. You did us a huge favor."

Angel was boiling mad now - mad at Skip and mad at himself. "What about Connor? What does he have to do with any of this?"

"We needed Angelus to not only fight on our side during the apocalypse, but to father the beast master. We didn't know it in the beginning, but when we discovered that your soul was bound, we knew that Angelus was lost to us, fortunately his son wasn't. If Cordelia can pull off the birth of the beast master, it will go a long way toward moving her ahead of the pack and toward her goal – something Lilah couldn't pull off."

"Connor is my son, not Angelus'," Angel roared.

"I beg to differ, monkey boy, the body that you, the soul, occupies belongs to the demon; the soul was just stuffed in, like an afterthought. The soul may be stronger than the demon and therefore in charge, but make no mistake about it, the soul does not own the body as it did when you were alive, if it did, then the body would die when the soul was removed.

"It is the demon that animates your body, not the soul and only the Powers themselves can destroy the demon and return that body to the soul, making you completely human again. So you see the soul controls only your conscience, the demon controls the body.

"The blood of the Morah didn't destroy Angelus, but it weakened him so much that you could no longer hear him; his presence still kept the body animated. So you see, you were nearly human, but not completely. You would have eventually craved blood once in a while and wouldn't have known why. Your Oracles didn't tell you any of this, did they?"

"You just contradicted what you said earlier. You said that Buffy and I could have been together forever and Connor would have never existed. Now you say that Angelus was still present, just weak, so why couldn't Connor still have been born?"

Skip gave a long bored sigh. "Two reasons, one, Morah's blood left Angelus too weak to make his presence known and two, the slayer was not meant to be Connor's mother. Even if the two of you had children, none of them would have been Connor; Darla was supposed to give birth to Connor."

"How do you know all of this?" Angel asked, anger rolling off him like rain drops.

"Because we know our enemies," Skip answered in a bored tone. "By the way, Angel, why didn't you look into the gypsy curse that the witch used to return your soul? That curse had no happiness clause in it. Of course it didn't mean that you couldn't lose your soul, just that you couldn't lose it to perfect happiness. Doyle was meant to be a temporary fix provided by the Powers to make sure you stayed on course after you left Sunnydale. You too were vulnerable at that time.

"With Doyle you were actually staying on course. Couldn't have that. You actually gave us an idea with your little pep talk. 'You never know your strength until you're tested. Fight the good fight - whichever way you can.' Remember? We just reminded him … at the right time."

Angel was livid. "You bastard. You're responsible for Doyle's death."

"Hey, I didn't tell him to be a hero." Skip defended himself. "You put that idea into his head. I didn't. I just reminded him of what you said. He acted on his own."

"I could kill you," Angel said approaching him threateningly.

"I wouldn't if I were you. My master wouldn't like it. Besides all you can do is destroy this metal shell; you can't kill me."

"Who is this master of yours?" Wes wanted to know.

"All in good time." Skip gave a wry grin. "You'll know soon enough."

Wes remembered the mention of Lilah's name. "Why did you say that Cordelia could pull off the birth and Lilah couldn't?"

"Simple. Lilah loves too much. There is nothing she wouldn't do to protect those she loves. She loves her mother; that's why she made the contract with Wolfram & Hart in the first place, and believe it or not she loves you. She has gone as far as she will ever go in the organization.

"Cordelia, on the other hand, loves nobody, not since that boy in Sunnydale cheated on her; she doesn't love anybody, she doesn't forgive, she doesn't forget and she's smart. Heh heh. Just the kind of people we like."

Angel and Wesley were not happy with what they were hearing. What had Cordelia gotten herself into?

"What does all of this mean?" Wes asked.

"Well for one thing," Skip said, "it means that Cordelia negotiated her own contract with the big cheese. If she is able to pull off the birth of the beast master, she moves to the head of the class. If the beast master is born and accomplishes its purpose, Cordelia wins; if it isn't born or if it dies before accomplishing its purpose, the contract is automatically terminated. Wolfram and Hart never made such an agreement before."

Angel still hoped that he could get to Cordelia before she gave birth. "You've told us where Cordy is; now tell us how to get to her."

"That's just it," Skip said. "You can't get to her; nobody can. Once she is in that pent house there is no access from the outside, and only she and those she trusts the most can open it from the inside. That's the way she wanted it, so that once the birth began, she would not be disturbed. But don't worry, she's not alone, she chose those that she wanted to witness the birth."

Angel was desperate. "Then there is no way for us to stop this?" he asked in defeat.

"No," Skip answered triumphantly. "Now if you don't mind, I have someplace to be."

He stood and walked out leaving the AI Team staring blankly after him.

End of Chapter 5


	7. To the Rescue

Chapter 6 – To the Rescue

Started: 06/10/2010

Completed: 06/11/2010

Rated PG for off-color words

**Note: This chapter did not load correctly initially so I am trying again. Sorry for any confusion.**

A/N: The latter part of Angel season 4 happened, then season 5 happened with some exceptions. Cordelia went into a coma after giving birth to Jasmine who reigned briefly until she was killed by Connor; there is no Ilyria and Cordelia came out of her coma weakened but otherwise okay; her contract with Wolfram and Hart was terminated. Spike helped Angel fight the Circle of the Black Thorn and then returned to Sunnydale.

Part 1

After she regained her strength since waking up from her coma Cordelia and Angel had a talk about feelings and family. Angel told her that she was part of his family and that he loved her as he did that rest of his family members but he was not in love with her.

Cordelia's reaction was that she knew that he was still in love with her and that he had been hurt by her choosing to align herself with Wolfram and Hart, but that was mostly because of the demon's influence and now that she was free of the demon they could continue the relationship they had started to build before she became part demon.

She would not be convinced that he felt only friendship for her. She asked Angel to set aside some additional time in his schedule for her because she felt that they needed to talk more and clear the air about other things.

Angel was anxious for the meeting as well because he knew that Cordy had some concerns about why they were at Wolfram & Hart and he had to convince her that there was no chance for a more serious relationship between the two of them.

Part 2

When Cordy entered his office followed by Harmony who was chattering away, Angel promptly told Harmony that they had an appointment and they were not to be disturbed. Harmony took his words as they were intended and left the office.

Angel started by saying "I know that you are concerned about our presence here at Wolfram & Hart, but trust me there is a method to this madness. Our intent is to use the resources of this office to do more good than we could ever accomplish on the outside and so far we are doing that.

"It is true we will never conquer evil no matter how many resources we have at our disposal, but we will go a long way toward putting a dent into evil's foothold in this dimension if we stay here. So what do you say; are you with us?"

"Of course I'm with you, Angel, but how can I help? I don't have the visions anymore."

Angel didn't want to tell her that according to Skip the visions were fake anyway so he said, "We'll think of something, we're just happy to have you back with us."

Cordy flashed her trademark smile at first, but then a serious look came over her face. "Angel the reason I asked for this meeting was because there are some things that I need to say to you."

"Sure, Cordy. What is it?"

"While I was asleep, unconscious I should say, whatever, I saw things."

"What things, what are you talking about?" Angel was concerned that she had seen Jasmine.

Instead Cordelia said, "I saw the past."

Angel shrugged with a sigh, "You told me that already."

"No Angel, not your past, my past. I saw my life from the time I was born right up until the time I went into a coma. What I saw was not pretty. I've always felt that everything I wanted was owed to me and I owed nothing, not to anyone or anything, because of who I was. After all I was Cordelia Chase, I was beautiful, I was smart, I was rich; everyone should bow to me or at least stay out of my way.

"Then along came Buffy Summers, a nobody, but in no time she had the friends, the family, the boyfriend who adored her and now all of a sudden I was second best."

"Cordy," Angel tried to interrupt.

"No, Angel, let me finish." She took a deep breath and continued. "I pulled out all the stops; I did everything I could to make her look bad, to discredit her, (she looked him in the eyes) to steal her boyfriend."

Cordelia held up a hand to stop him when she saw Angel try to interrupt her again. She continued. "Nothing I did worked. I couldn't wait to graduate from high school so I could go on to a college on the other side of the country, anything to get away from Buffy.

"But by graduation I was broke, so I took what money I had and came to LA certain that I would make it big here. I would show Buffy.

"That didn't work either.

"Then I ran into you. I used Doyle's feeling for me to work my way into a position where I was important here, important to you. When I was approached by Skip and shown my future, I almost took it, but then I thought, if I go this way it means that Buffy would have won.

"What an idiot I was, Buffy didn't even know there was supposed to be a contest. Since I had lost to her in every other contest I could conceive, I was determined to replace her in your affections and then throw it back in her face. I thought I was succeeding. I had had visions of her in trouble before, which I didn't tell you about."

Angel was outraged. "WHAT?"

Cordelia defended her actions. "If she really was your soul mate wouldn't you have known when she was in trouble through this connection that you two are supposed to have?"

"That's not the point, Cordelia."

"As I said, I thought I was succeeding, until she died and I saw your reaction to her death. But I wasn't giving up, not by a long shot. I knew I could replace her in your eyes. When you returned I pulled out all the stops, the hair, the attitude, the come hither eyes, plus with Fred and Lorne spouting their nonsense about kye'rumption, or whatever the hell it was, you didn't stand a chance.

"When I agreed to be made half demon, my only thought was that now I would be immortal and beautiful forever, how could Buffy compete with that? After all she wouldn't be the slayer forever, she would get old and wrinkled and ugly while you and I remained the same.

"I didn't even consider the affect of having a constant demon influence; at first I enjoyed it, you know what it's like, actions without consequences. But then, as time went on, it got so that I was not the one in control. It was like I was watching what was happening, but I couldn't do anything about it.

"Angel, I would never sleep with Connor, not the real me, not me without the demon influence. I was the closest thing to a mother that he had ever had. I am so sorry for all the trouble I caused. I know there is no way I can make up for the pain I caused everyone, but I had to let you know that I am truly sorry for everything."

"So everything I know about you since I met you in LA is a lie? You did all those things because you were jealous of Buffy?" Angel asked, unable to believe what he was hearing.

She briefly lifted an eyebrow and nodded. "Pretty much," she admitted.

"Geez Cordy, I don't know the real you at all do I? Who _are_ you?"

"At this point, Angel, I don't even know myself. I know that I don't feel the demon inside anymore and that's a good thing. I thought about going to join my mother in Europe, but I don't even know where she is. I only heard from her once since I came to LA."

"You are welcome to stay here. Even though you don't have the visions anymore, there must be something you can do.

"You can start off working for Wes. I'm sure that he can use an assistant. I can tell you now, the half-assed job that you did before at AI will not be acceptable here and you will be paid a flat salary, not based on the cases we get but on what I think the position is worth and the quality of the work that you do."

"Thanks, Angel, I appreciate that. I'd at least like to stay until I can figure out what I want to do with the rest of my life."

Part 3

A few months later Angel and Cordelia were in another meeting, this time right after he revealed his plan for taking down the Circle of the Black Thorn.

"Angel, this is insane. We need to get out of here and go back to Angel Investigations at the Hyperion. We were doing good work there. Here we are just going through the motions."

Cordelia was desperate as she tried to reason with Angel. She lowered her voice as she continued. "And this is a foolish plan. We cannot possibly win."

"I told you, Cordy; I want you and Fred far away from here before tonight."

She rose and turned to leave. "I'll go help Fred pack her things, but I'm staying."

Angel's patience was wearing thin. "Listen to me, Cordy. We are going into a war, not some back yard skirmish. You are not at full strength. The team and I will need all of the help we can get and you cannot help, even at full strength you would be a liability. Fred accepts that, why can't you? I just don't want to see you get hurt."

"I know that, Angel, but you need me." She left the room before he could reply.

Part 4

That night when Spike and Angel reached the alley behind the Hyperion Cordelia was already there.

"What the hell is she doing here?" Spike demanded of Angel.

Before he could reply Gunn came running up; he was bleeding from a thigh wound. Spike tore off a piece of Gunn's pants leg and tied it around the injured thigh.

"You're supposed to wear the red stuff on the inside, Charlie boy."

"I got the job done boys; the senator and her vamps are all history. Any word on Wes?"

"Not yet," Cordelia answered causing Gunn to notice her for the first time.

"Cordy, what are you doing here?"

"Why does everybody keep asking that? I'm here to fight," Cordelia answered indignantly.

Before anyone could reply, Wesley stumbled into the alley. Angel caught him before he fell. He was also injured and bleeding from a wound in his side. They all turned as the sound of footfalls like thunder approached the alley. It seemed as if the hordes of hell had been unleashed upon them and they soon found themselves fighting what was obviously a losing battle.

"Cordelia, look out," Wesley yelled as he pushed her out of the way, taking a blade to the chest that was meant for her. On top of a dragon Angel was bleeding from many wounds and barely holding on as he whacked away at the dragon's head.

Meanwhile in another dimension Buffy halted her actions in the middle of a training session and whispered, "Oh, no!"

"Buffy, what's the matter?" her trainer asked.

"Angel is hurt; he's in danger. I have to go. Now!" she said reaching for her ever present scythe.

Using her link to Angel she honed in on his location and teleported to the air above the Hyperion where she found Angel badly injured but still fighting on the back of a dragon.

With a few swings of the magically enhanced scythe she removed the dragon's head. She directed its body toward the demon horde and carried Angel to the ground. Quickly she touched each of the injured men and their injuries healed instantly. Cordelia didn't have a scratch on her.

With renewed vigor and Buffy's help the battle soon turned in their favor and after another hour of intense fighting it was all over.

As she healed the last of his wounds Gunn asked Buffy, "What are you an angel from heaven or something?"

"Or something," she answered with a smile and as she turned to ask Angel what was going on she was roughly pushed aside by Cordelia who threw her arms around Angel squealing,

"We did it. I knew we could do it," as she kissed him.

"Buffy, how did you know…oh.." Wesley started and then remembered the link between Buffy and Angel. "Thank you, Buffy," he said. "You saved us all."

"You're welcome," she said smiling again. "Now I have to go."

With that, she teleported back to her family's home dimension to continue her training.

Extracting himself from Cordelia's embrace Angel asked in an angry tone, "Why the hell did you do that?"

"Well, I couldn't let Buffy take all of the credit for our victory, could I? After all we killed some of the demons, too," Cordelia answered smugly.

"She _is_ responsible for our victory," Wes said appalled at Cordelia's attitude. "Without her intervention we would all be dead."

"It's true, Cordy, even Spike and Angel were fading. In another two or three minutes we would have all been down for the count – and we weren't getting back up." This came from Gunn.

"I'm surprised you humans lasted as long as you did, the two of you being injured and all. If the slayer hadn't shown up when she did, that mob would have taken us all out." Spike turned to Cordelia. "Besides, all you did was to cause the watcher to get a blade to the chest," he snorted.

Through all of this Angel had been silent, unable to speak. Finally he said, "Let's get inside the Hyperion and clean up. It looks like it suffered very little damage. I don't think we should stay here tonight though. We don't know what might come looking for us. Gunn, Wes, Cordy go home tonight. I will check into a motel and see you all tomorrow after sunset."

End of Chapter 6


	8. Life Goes On

Chapter 7 – Life Goes On

Started: 06/21/2010

Completed: 06/21/2010

In the alternate dimension

After rescuing Angel and his team from what looked like certain death, Buffy returned to her 'home' dimension to continue her training. She reported to her family what had happened and they were most pleased with how she handled herself. Grand M said that she made excellent use of the skills that she had learned and that she was progressing nicely.

All of her relatives knew the history of her relationship with Angel and about her current feelings for him. They were not surprised at her sudden departure to rush to his aid.

Joyce's concern was that Angel seemed to have moved on to someone else and that Buffy's continued love for the vampire would to be a source of unhappiness and pain for her daughter. Grand M advised Joyce against trying to influence Buffy's decisions about Angel and to allow her to find her own way. Joyce reluctantly agreed.

Buffy continued to make impressive progress as her training proceeded; her control of white magic, her ability to read and counter black magic and her ability to recall spells astounded even Grand M and Aunt Jean; she made things like levitation, teleportation and mind control seem like child's play and her increased strength and healing abilities were clearly obvious.

With all of these improvements in her physical, mental and emotional abilities she remained the same Buffy that they all knew and loved – the Buffy who laughed at Xander-type jokes, who offered quirky puns at what some (including her mother) considered most inappropriate times, and who could pig out on cookie dough fudge mint chip ice cream with the best of them.

As the end of her training approached some of her training team members, including her mother and Grand M, grew nervous, not that they were concerned about Buffy's abilities, but because they knew what was ahead for her, that the destruction of demonic evil on earth would be left on her shoulders alone.

In Sunnydale

Giles took Buffy's advice. He found watchers for the potential slayers in his charge and they were relocated two or three to a team to various parts of the world as close to the potentials' homelands as possible.

Faith stayed in Sunnydale as the slayer on the Hellmouth and she and Spike grew close. Demonic activity was at a low since Buffy closed the Hellmouth and since there wasn't much to do on patrol Faith and Spike spent most of their nights together.

Spike helped her adjust and moved into her apartment with her when the Scoobies rejected her and did not want her living in the Summers' home with them. Since it was soon obvious that she did not need a watcher Giles decided to return to England.

Willow once again took a walk on the dark side as she time and time again over-indulged in black magic.

Giles' attempted intervention this time came too late and when he took her back to England a second time for rehabilitation with the coven in Devon, it was determined that short of ending Willow's life the only alternative was that she should be stripped of all except very basic magic abilities and that she would never again be allowed involvement in more powerful magic.

Even though she would've liked to still be able to practice more powerful magic, Willow acknowledged that what the coven had done for her was best.

The relationship between Xander and Anya continued off and on and Dawn seemed to be maturing in Buffy's absence.

In Los Angeles

After they took on the Circle of the Black Thorn followed by their battle with the hordes of hell, Angel and company started up Angel Investigations in the Hyperion Hotel again and they continued to 'help the helpless' in LA.

Everyone noticed that he was unusually happy and cheerful and not at all broody which was his norm; for a while they were concerned about it until Wes explained what he thought was going on with Angel.

It was Wesley's opinion that seeing Buffy again had given Angel hope for the future. He reminded them of what Skip had said about Buffy being away for training after which she would return and would be the last living slayer. If that was true then there was a possibility of a future together for the vampire and the slayer.

Cordelia, of course, did not believe a word of it and she would not be persuaded that Angel still had feelings for Buffy; she knew for certain that his happy disposition was due to the fact that she was back in his life because he was still in love with her.

End of Chapter 7


	9. Hello and Goodbye

Chapter 8 – Hello and Goodbye

Started: 06/24/2010

Completed: 07/01/2010

Grand M approached Buffy's bedroom carefully. Her concern was for Buffy and her current state of mind. Buffy had on several occasions requested permission to contact her friends (those that she thought were still her friends) and had been denied every time.

The explanation that she had been given was that the family felt that it would allow for undue influence on her concentration and that had to be avoided at all costs.

Buffy accepted the family's decision, but she made it clear that she did not like it and that if something happened to any of her friends that she could have prevented, she would never forgive herself.

Grand M knew that also implied was that she would probably not forgive the family either. The Powers had made it clear that the fate of the family depended upon Buffy's success during her post-training trials presided over by the Oracles, so not being forgiven was a risk that Grand M was willing to take.

No one outside the family could be told specifically where Buffy was or what she was doing. Even after her return she could not make known such details or information about her life's mission. Only if her mate decided to join her without that knowledge would he be informed.

Buffy told her that that would not be happening since her mate had chosen another. Grand M knew otherwise, but she was not allowed to tell Buffy; just as Joyce had to let Buffy work out her personal problems on her own, so did the rest of the family.

Inside her bedroom Buffy knew who was approaching her door before they entered the hall where her rooms were located. Before Grand M could knock on her door she called out "Come on in." to her great-grandmother.

"Even masking my footsteps and shrouding my presence does not fool you anymore, does it?" Grand M asked with a proud smile.

"Nope," Buffy answered with an equally proud smile. By now she was used to her family members trying to outwit her every chance they got. Uncle Sy had been able to catch her off guard once early in her training, but after that the others had failed every time no matter how inventive their tricks were.

She and her Uncle Eugene had enjoyed a good laugh at his expense when she had caught him trying to feed her incorrect information. Knowing that she was not that advanced he had tried to fib his way out of it.

Buffy laughed at him and said, "Uncle Eu, you're as bad as my friend Willow, you can't lie well enough to save your own neck."

Grand M got right to the point when she said, "The time is rapidly approaching for your ritualistic testing by the Oracles. I know that you are ready for it but there are a few things that you need to know first. Let's sit in your visitors' lounge and talk. I brought tea." She waved her right index finger and a tea setting for two with assorted pastries and fruits appeared on a cart in the middle of the lounge.

"Cool," Buffy said with a smile of approval.

"Well you know that I have a flare for the dramatic," Grand M chuckled.

After enjoying the food and getting the preliminary minor details out of the way, Grand M said, "The ritual will be long and painful and it will render you unconscious for about three and a half days. During that time you will be able to contact your friends in their sleep.

"You can tell them nothing about where you are or what is going on. The only thing that you can tell them is that you will be returning in about a week. Find out as much as you can about what has been going on with them while you've been away. It will help you assimilate after you get back. You will also be able to gauge whether or not you will be welcomed back.

"After you awake following the ritual we will be told whether or not you have met the Powers requirements. If you have, you will have eye surgery to improve your eye sight. The Powers will then grant you invulnerability before you awake from the surgery. Joyce will join you some time after you return. The two of you will have to work out how you will handle her return since everyone thinks she is dead.

"Now if you have no further issues or concerns why don't you take a few days off and relax. We are planning a huge family picnic for all day Saturday. Come hungry and full of energy. I have invited Janea to join us; she is anxious to see you again."

"I'm looking forward to seeing her," Buffy replied. "A picnic sounds like fun."

The family picnic was more than fun. Buffy didn't remember the last time she had laughed so much. She and Janea made a good team and they were taking all challengers in the athletic events until the others decided to separate them because they were always winning.

"Sore losers," Janea laughed as she and Buffy ignored the others and continued as a team.

"Sore winners," yelled Aunt Jean as she nailed Janea with the dodge ball.

"Don't worry, partner, I'll get them for that," Buffy yelled just as she was pummeled from all sides.

"Ow. I thought you said we couldn't use our gifts in the games."

"No," replied Aunt Jean with a sneaky grin, "we said '_you_ can't use _your_ gifts'."

"Always listen carefully to what is being said, Buffy," her mother cautioned as she helped her up; "things are not always as they first appear."

That was the last game Buffy and Janea lost all day.

When she opened her eyes, Buffy was disoriented at first. The last thing she remembered was searing pain like she had never felt before followed by a voice, voices actually, saying "Sleep now".

'This means that I must be still unconscious. Now I can find out what is going on in Sunnydale.'

She closed her eyes and saw the living room of her house on Revello Drive. No one was there. She checked her mom's bedroom for Willow – again nobody.

'Dummy,' she thought to herself, 'it's daytime; everyone is out. I wonder if Giles stayed in Sunnydale or returned to England.' She allowed her senses to hone in on Giles, but could not find him in Sunnydale. 'England it is then.' She checked the clock next to Willow's bed; it read 03:15 pm. 'That means that it is after 11 in London. I wonder if Giles is asleep yet. Let's find out.'

She found Giles tossing and turning in a state of fitful sleep. 'Poor Giles,' she thought, 'I did this to him; I have to fix this.' She entered his dream and the first thing she saw was Giles' face as she walked out of her house with her weapons bag. He was in tears. She whispered his name. Instantly his eyes opened.

"Buffy? Is that really you?"

"It's really me Giles."

"Oh, Buffy, I thought I had lost you; I am so sorry," he sobbed as he grabbed her around the waist burying his face in her midsection unmindful of the fact that he was in his pajamas.

She put her arms around him and wept as well. "No Giles, it's my fault. It's all my fault."

Once the tears let up and Giles was more aware of himself, he let her go and asked, "Buffy what are you doing in London, in my bedroom?"

"I'm not in London, Giles; you're asleep and I entered your dreams. I looked for you in Sunnydale and when I didn't find you I figured you had returned home to London."

"How are you able to do this? Did Willow help you? No, wait. Willow can't do this kind of magic anymore. The coven in Devon stripped her of most of her magic. The most she can do is a simple protection spell."

"What happened, Giles?"

Giles picked up his robe from the foot of his bed and Buffy turned her back to give him privacy. He explained what had happened in Sunnydale since she left and before he returned to London, about finding watchers and homes for the potential slayers, about Willow and her descent into dark magic again, about Faith and Spike, Xander and Anya and finally Dawn.

"Willow needs you Buffy; they all do. _We_ all do."

"I will be returning to Sunnydale in about a week. I'll explain as much as I can then and I'll try to straighten everything out and get us back on track then. I love you, Giles."

"I love you too, dear girl. I am so happy that you're coming back."

"Me, too. Get a good night's sleep, Giles."

They hugged again and Buffy exited his dream.

Giles woke up the next morning with a smile on his face for the first time in many months.

After speaking with Giles, Buffy was determined to speak to all of her friends. 'It's still not sunset in Sunnydale. I wonder if Spike is awake yet. If not, maybe Faith is also asleep; maybe I can kill two birds with one stone.'

She was able to speak with Spike and Faith together. It pained her to hear that the Scoobies had not welcomed Faith into her house, had in fact made things so uncomfortable for her that it had been necessary for her to leave. After all, they had said that they wanted Faith as leader instead of Buffy. What had happened to change their minds?

Faith thought that their change of mind was more a change of heart when they saw that Buffy actually left and they didn't want Faith around to remind them of their mistake.

"Everything has been really quiet since you left, B; I seldom, if ever, encounter anything to make patrol worthwhile. It's as though you got rid of most of the bad guys before you left," Faith told her.

Spike thought differently. "It seems more like the calm before the storm to me," was his assessment.

Buffy didn't want to tell them that that was exactly what it was and that that storm would be the biggest they had ever seen. She would let them enjoy the quiet while it lasted. She bid them good night and left their dreams.

'It's still early evening in California; no one else would be asleep this time of day – except Angel. Ahhh.' Buffy sighed. That thought had come unbidden out of nowhere.

'Why can't I forget him? Must he always be so deep in my heart that the memory of him surfaces anytime it wants to? Why can't it leave me alone and allow me some peace of mind? I just want to be able to forget him and try to get on with my life – or whatever is left of my life without him.' She sighed again. 'I'll just try to get some sleep myself,' was her last thought before she sank into oblivion.

Buffy became aware again. 'I wonder what time it is. I'll look up Xander and see if he's sleeping.'

Xander was indeed sleeping and dreaming about Anya. 'At least somebody is having pleasant dreams;' Buffy thought, 'I'll just check on Dawnie.'

She found Dawn whimpering in her sleep and entered her dreams quietly so as not to alarm her. "Hello, Dawn," she said. "It's me."

"Buffy?" Dawn launched herself at her sister; Buffy caught her and the sisters hugged each other.

"Buffy when did you get back? Where have you been? Why did you leave me?" She paused. "Oh, I don't care; I'm just glad that you're back." She hugged her sister again.

"Dawn, I'm not back yet. I will be soon, but not yet. You're dreaming."

"You entered my dreams? Cool. Why didn't you come sooner?"

"I couldn't."

"Buffy, you're not dead, are you? Please tell me that you're not dead."

"I'm not dead, Dawn, and I should be back in Sunnydale in about a week."

"I can't wait to tell Willow. She misses you like crazy."

"I'll stop by to see Willow and Xander after I leave you."

"They'll be happy to see you."

"I've heard good things about you from Giles."

"Really? What did he say? Wait a minute, he's not in Sunnydale."

"Oh, that you're growing up, among other things. I know he's not in Sunnydale; I visited him in London."

"This dream-sharing thing is so cool. Did you visit anyone else?"

"Yeah. Faith and Spike."

"Oh … _oh_…"

"Yeah."

"Buffy, I didn't….I…I mean…I'm sorry about what I said to make you leave. I shouldn't have said that. I should have supported you; after all you've done for me, I should have supported you even if no one else did."

"Why did you say those things, Dawn?"

"I don't know. Xander was hurt and you wanted to go back to that place again and everybody else thought you were wrong, so I just went along with them. I really don't have an excuse for what I did. Can you forgive me?"

"I forgive you, Dawn."

"Does this mean that you're not mad at me anymore?"

"I was never mad at you. Hurt, yes. Mad, no."

"I'm sorry," Dawn said again and hugged her sister.

The sisters talked for a while longer, after which Buffy hugged Dawn goodbye and headed off to see Xander again.

This time Xander was dreaming about food. "Hello, Xander."

"Buffy? Buffster? What are you doing here? Not that I'm not happy to see you because I am, but I thought I was asleep."

"You are asleep, Xander, I just stepped into your dreams for a visit."

"You can do that? Yeah I guess you can 'cause you're here. Why are you here?"

"I wanted to see how everyone was doing."

"Without you, you mean. Well we're doing just fine without you, so get out of my dreams."

"I didn't come here to fight with you Xander. If you don't want me here, I'll leave."

"No Buffy, don't go," he said quickly, almost pleading. "It's just that you left, again, and didn't tell us, your friends, where you were going or when, or _if_, you were coming back."

"Was there any reason that I should have? After all you, my friends, said you didn't trust me to lead anymore and chose a new leader and gave your consent, by your silence, when my fake sister ordered me out of _my_ house. Exactly how considerate of_my__friends_ should I have been?"

"You're right. I just did not want to go back and face Caleb again. I had already lost an eye to him and you were asking me to go back again."

"I wasn't asking you to go back, Xander. I never asked you to go in the first place. I always asked you and Willow to stay out of the dangerous situations and yet you always insisted on going. How many times had I told you that I can't fight and protect you at the same time? And yet when you do get hurt, I'm to blame."

"But you always protected us before."

"Do you hear yourself?"

"I know. After you left and I had time to think about it, I finally heard what you and Anya had been trying to tell me." He hesitated and then said, "We all miss you, you know."

"I miss you guys too."

"You and Will are my best friends and, oh gods, Will… Buffy she really needs you. Have you spoken to Giles? Did he tell you about Will? When are you coming back?"

"Yes I've spoken with Giles and he did tell me about Willow. Even if I had been here I don't think I could have prevented what happened. I couldn't stop it the last time, you did, remember?"

"I know; even I couldn't stop her this time, Buff, she was too far gone before I even noticed anything. When did you say you're coming back?"

"I should be back in about a week."

"Good. That's good. Have you talked to anyone else tonight?"

"Yeah. I spoke with Spike, Faith and Dawn. I came to see you earlier but you seemed to be having a nice dream and I didn't want to disturb you, so I left."

"Oh, heh…heh…" Xander blushed.

They talked for a while longer; they talked about Faith, Faith and Spike and again about Willow. Xander told her that Anya was a vengeance demon again.

"She said that she's not coming back. I miss her, but if she has decided to stay a vengeance demon, it is best that she stays away."

Buffy didn't respond to that; she remembered clearly confronting Anyanka before when she was a vengeance demon. With Buffy's new powers, a fight between them now would be decidedly one-sided and she didn't want to hurt Anya or Xander.

They finally said goodbye and, with possibly dread in her heart, she went off to visit Willow.

Willow seemed to be sleeping peacefully when she arrived. Buffy sat down on the side of the bed next to her friend and watched her for a few minutes. She noticed that Willow became agitated, called out Buffy's name and calmed again. This cycle repeated a couple of times before Buffy made her presence known.

"Buffy… is it really you?"

"It's me, Will."

She threw herself into Buffy's arms and sobbed. "Oh, Buffy, I knew that you would come back; I knew you wouldn't desert us."

Buffy held her friend stroking her hair and her back until she calmed down. "You're dreaming, Will; I'm not really in Sunnydale, I'm just visiting you in your dreams."

"I don't care. I miss you so much, Buffy; please come back home. We need you; we all need you. Dawn acts so brave, but I know that she misses you too."

"I miss all of you too and I should be back in about a week."

"Really? I'm so glad that you're coming back." She hesitated.

"I'm sorry, Buffy, for not supporting you before, but I was just so scared, we all were, and after Xander got hurt I was afraid we were all going to die, and when you went off to face that preacher alone and then to face the First alone I thought we had lost you, that you had gone off the deep end, and then you came back and said that you had killed them all, and Buffy we thought you were insane, and how could you kill them all by yourself, and then you left and didn't come back and Faith said that you told her that you weren't coming back, and.."

"Will, breathe, you are going to pass out."

"Oh, okay." She put her head back on Buffy's shoulder and Buffy held her until her breathing returned to normal.

"Let me see if I can answer all of your questions. First of all I'm sorry, too. I was just so hurt when everyone said that they didn't trust me anymore. I mean the four of us, you me Giles and Xander, have been together since I came to Sunnydale and for the three of you to vote that you didn't trust me, that you preferred Faith as leader over me, that hurt more than I can say.

"Then when Dawn said that I had to leave and none of you said anything, I knew that I was alone, completely alone, and that I had to rely on what I believed to be true even if my friends didn't believe in me anymore.

"I went to the vineyard where I met the last of the guardians and found a scythe. That is what the First and Caleb were hiding at the vineyard. The guardian explained to me its purpose and said that it was mine alone to wield.

"While Caleb and I were fighting Angel showed up just in time. I used the scythe to kill Caleb and Angel gave me an amulet and instructions on how to use it.

"I was determined to either destroy the First or die trying.

"For the first time in my life I called on the Powers for help, and they did.

"The amulet worked and the First was sent back to hell. I resealed the Hellmouth and came back here to let everyone know that they were safe. I returned the amulet to Angel and left town.

"So you see I didn't do it all on my own, I had help when I really needed it the most."

"So where are you now?"

"I can't tell you that, Will, except to say that my work here is almost finished and I'll be returning to Sunnydale shortly.

"Now I have a couple of questions for you. What happened with Faith? You guys chose her to lead you, why wasn't she welcome to stay here?"

"I think it all goes back to fear again. After you left we were afraid to stay in the house with her, afraid that she would go all psycho slayer on us again and try to kill us or something."

"Were there any indications from her that she would try to harm any of you?"

"No. We just didn't want to take the chance. Besides she was all lovey-dovey with Spike; who knows what they might be planning."

"A slayer and a vampire going psycho together and killing everybody?" Buffy asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Well when you put it that way it doesn't sound like we were thinking too clearly, does it?"

"Not really. I'm just glad that she had someone in her corner when she needed them."

Buffy and Willow talked for the rest of the night like the old friends that they were. Willow told Buffy about how alone she felt after Buffy left and then when Kennedy was reassigned, she was desperate.

"I missed Tara so much and I didn't know where she was. I tried using magic to find her, but I couldn't. She must have covered herself so that she couldn't be found. That meant that she didn't want me to find her. After that I used magic to escape, then after a while I was in so deep I couldn't pull myself out."

At the end of the night they hugged each other goodbye, each looking forward to the time when Buffy would be back in Sunnydale.

Buffy opened her eyes again. She didn't feel any different, but she knew that she was different. She looked into the concerned face of her mother. "Mom, what happened to your skin?" she asked.

Joyce smile and asked, "How do you feel, honey?"

"Fine. Things look a little funny… bright… and sharp… you know, like when you look at something through a microscope."

"Do you feel dizzy at all?"

"No. I have a gift from the Powers and my new eyes, which I'll have to get used to; other than that I think I'm ready."

"Are you sure that you don't want to take a few days to relax? You've been through a lot recently. You could still be back in Sunnydale within the time you promised them."

"No. I'm anxious to get started. Mom, Grand M said that you and I will have to work out how we will handle your return since everyone thinks you are dead. What do you want to tell everyone?"

"I've been giving that some thought. Tell your friends that after my surgery I was kidnapped from the hospital. I was replaced by some double who pretended to die and be buried. If anyone looks in my coffin, they will find it empty. I was held hostage until I was rescued by you earlier this month. I am now staying with Aunt Jean and will not be returning to Sunnydale.

"Since you were never able to get in touch with your father, he and his side of the family don't even know that I am supposed to be dead. Explain to your friends that the First was trying to break you if they ask for a reason why. Let them think that the illness was real, that way we don't have to explain Grand M and the surgeon."

"Wow, Mom, you've thought of everything."

"Are there any other outstanding issues that you would like to talk about?"

"Nope, I think that's it. I'm ready to get started."

"All right, then. Your family would like to say goodbye and wish you well. With gifts."

"Oooo presents," Buffy said smiling and rubbing her hands together in anticipation.

And what presents they were, charms and weapons like she had never seen before, all designed specifically for her, impenetrable clothing that would withstand bullets and fire, whispered secrets and words of encouragement and love.

Buffy knew that she would not see some of these relatives again, alive anyway, and it pained her deeply. She had come to love all of them, both the current generations of relatives and those ancestors that died long before she was born.

She hugged and kissed them all, thanking them for their love and support and their generous contributions to the training that had prepared her for what she was now to face. She stood in awe of the many ancestors that had delayed their heavenly reward for her sake.

Though she whispered words of love, admiration and gratitude to each one, no words could possibly describe their sacrifices for her or her feelings for them.

As a parting thank you to her family she sang 'Wind Beneath My Wings' (lyrics are quoted below). Afterward she brought her hands to her lips and threw them a kiss as tears streamed down her face.

Following are lyrics to 'Wind Beneath My Wings' as sung by Bette Midler

Oh, oh, oh, oh -  
It must have been cold there in my shadow,  
to never have sunlight on your face.  
You were content to let me shine, that's your way.  
You always walked a step behind.

So I was the one with all the glory,  
while you were the one with all the strain.  
A beautiful face without a name for so long.  
A beautiful smile to hide the pain.

Did you ever know that you're my hero,  
and everything I would like to be?  
I can fly higher than an eagle,  
for you are the wind beneath my wings.

It might have appeared to go unnoticed,  
but I've got it all here in my heart.  
I want you to know I know the truth, of course I know it.  
I would be nothing without you.

Did you ever know that you're my hero?  
You're everything I wish I could be.  
I could fly higher than an eagle,  
for you are the wind beneath my wings.

Did I ever tell you you're my hero?  
You're everything, everything I wish I could be.  
Oh, and I, I could fly higher than an eagle,  
for you are the wind beneath my wings,  
'cause you are the wind beneath my wings.

Oh, the wind beneath my wings.  
You, you, you, you are the wind beneath my wings.  
Fly, fly, fly away. You let me fly so high.  
Oh, you, you, you, the wind beneath my wings.  
Oh, you, you, you, the wind beneath my wings.

Fly, fly, fly high against the sky,  
so high I almost touch the sky.  
Thank you, thank you,  
thank God for you, the wind beneath my wings

End of Chapter 8


	10. Plans

Chapter 9 – Plans

Started: 07/01/2010

Completed: 07/02/2010

A/N: Some of the following events were previously published in a fic called 'How Did We Get Here', a prequel to 'Preparing for War'. I felt it was better to incorporate the logic here than to continue with two very similar fics. I hope this is not too confusing.

Buffy teleported to her bedroom in her house on Revello Drive in Sunnydale. She wanted to put away her new gifts and hide them with a protective ward before the rest of the residents of the house got home. Willow was taking summer classes at UC Sunnydale and Dawn was currently working at a temporary summer job; that left her alone in the house for now. She had a chance to get re-acclimated to her surroundings and do some planning before the others arrived.

Before she could start on her assignment from the Powers to clean-up demonic evil in this dimension, she had to handle the evil that was coming very soon to Sunnydale. She didn't know what or who it was, but it was big and she had to be ready. All she knew was that she would be facing 'old enemies'.

'That could be almost anybody that I've faced before. Ugh! Please don't tell me that it is the First Evil again. I have some serious preparation to do. I need to get the gang together and see where we stand on working together again.'

From an upstairs window Buffy saw Dawn coming up the walk; she headed downstairs to meet her as she entered the house. 'Willow won't be home for several hours,' she thought to herself, 'now is as good a time as any for Dawn and me to talk.'

Dawn ran to her sister and they hugged. "Buffy, you're here; I wasn't expecting you until later in the week."

"I know. I got done earlier than I expected and I was anxious to get back," Buffy said.

"I'm hungry; is there anything to eat?"

"Let's grab whatever we can find to eat in the fridge and sit down at the dining room table; we need to talk."

After the sisters had eaten and cleared the table Dawn looked at Buffy, "What's up? What do we need to talk about?"

"You can stop the act now, Dawn."

Dawn hesitated; when she spoke there was uncertainty in her voice. "What do you mean?"

"Come on, Dawn, you know what I mean."

"You know who I am, don't you?"

"Yes, Amita*, I do and I know that you knew from the start that you were Glori's sister; why did you deceive us like that? I would have still protected you. In my heart you still feel like my sister."

"I know. I didn't know in the beginning whether or not you would accept me, but when I began to see that you and Mom really loved me even after you knew who I was, I knew that you would protect me. I was afraid, Buffy; I had not grown into my full power in this dimension, I still haven't. I was just afraid of what my sister would do if she found out I was aligned against her.

"I was sent here to watch her; we did not expect her to act so quickly. My brothers and I thought I would have grown to full power in this dimension before Glori tried anything. They put a glamour on me so that Glori would not recognize me as Amita in case we ran into each other before I reached full strength. She still thinks that I am just the key and not that I am her sister.

"Even though I am not at full strength, I am still stronger now; I can help you fight her this time. She and I cannot be killed in this realm, but together you and I can weaken her enough so that she can be contained until she is sent back home. There is a good chance that she will be put to death; it is up to my brothers who are the rulers of my world. She just needs to be bound to her host so that she cannot escape and I have to let my brothers know when to expect her so they can be prepared.

"Contrary to what you thought Glori did not die when Giles killed Ben, she simply moved to a new host, one of her followers, but because she could only inhabit that body for a short period of time, she had to choose a more suitable host. By accident I saw her when she ran into one of Jasmine's followers who was in Sunnydale checking up on you; he informed her of what had been going on in LA and of their plans. She temporarily invaded his body until they got back to LA where she chose a new host."

"Do you know who her new host is?" Buffy asked.

"No."

"What do you know about her current plans?"

Dawn breathed a sigh of relief when she realized that Buffy was not mad at her. "Remember I told you about Jasmine when you visited me in my sleep?" she asked.

"Yes. How could I forget something like that?"

"Well all I know is that Glori has aligned herself with the First Evil and with some of Jasmine's more zealous acolytes. Not all of them returned to normal after Jasmine's death."

"The First is back again?"

"Yes, the First is back and is gaining strength because of the actions of Glori and Jasmine's remaining followers. The First is having some of Jasmine's followers turned to vampires and without Jasmine's influence they are seeking to get revenge on Angel for killing her and you are their target."

Pain flared in Buffy's heart at the mention of Angel. "Then why aren't they going after Cordelia instead of me?"

"Angel loves Cordelia, Buffy; he would never have deserted her while she was in a coma."

"I know that. Wait a minute, how do you know that?"

"Angel told me so."

This conversation was getting even more weird. "What? When?"

"The last time I was in LA. As I said, I am not at full strength, but some of my powers are quite well developed. For one thing my speed and strength are near 90%."

"Yes, I know. I saw you on patrol one night before I returned from heaven."

"I had to Buffy; I got the bot to promise not to tell anyone."

"I know that too."

Dawn was surprised. "How much did you watch us while you were away?"

'I might as well tell her everything,' Buffy thought to herself. "A lot - in the beginning. But then I saw something that changed my mind. I didn't watch anymore."

"You saw Angel and Cordy," Dawn stated. It was not a question.

"Yeah."

Now that Dawn really looked, she could see the pain and heartache that Buffy carried but kept so well hidden. "He's not in love with her Buffy."

"That's not the way it looked to me. Even after I helped to save his ass during that near apocalypse that he started, I look up and she's in his arms and they're kissing, right in front of me."

"I'm sorry, Buffy. I was so sure that he…"

"It's alright, Dawn. I should never have allowed myself to get my hopes up again. What about the others? Do you want them to know who you really are?"

"No. I think it is best to leave things as they are for now. I don't want them upset with me because I deceived them all of this time. Let them think that I was needed to send Glori home and that's it. You can tell everyone the truth after I'm gone. What do you think?"

"That's fine with me. Are you leaving after this war is over? Are you going home?"

Dawn was glad that Buffy knew. "Yes, I am. I like this world and I love you, but I'm ready to return home."

"So am I," Buffy said. "This is my last battle. If I win this one, I have some other things to do and then I can return to my place in heaven."

"Oh Buffy, that's wonderful." She hugged her sister. "I'm so happy for you."

Buffy closed her eyes; a gentle smile graced her face.

Willow was next to enter the house. She found Dawn and Buffy hugging and assumed that Buffy had just arrived.

"Heyyy!" she exclaimed as she ran up to the sisters and joined the hug.

They welcomed Willow into the hug. "Buffy, it's so good to have you home. What's on the agenda?"

"Well, sorry to be the bearer of bad tidings, but the news is not good. There is trouble times three heading this way and we need to get ready. That's one of the reasons I hurried back. I need to call a Scooby meeting for this evening. What time does Xander get home from work?"

"He's usually in by six; he always calls as soon as he gets home," Willow told Buffy.

"Okay. Where are Faith and Spike staying? I need them here, too."

She noticed a pained look on Willow's face at the mention of Faith's name. "Don't worry, Will, I talked with Faith and Spike the same night that I visited the rest of you. They are not mad at any of you and I think Faith understands why you guys did what you did."

"Wow, that's really good to hear. I think they are staying at the apartment that the mayor got for Faith when he was here. I think he actually bought the apartment for her."

Before anything else could be said, the doorbell rang and Dawn went to answer it. They heard her squeal and hurried to the living room.

"Guys, look who's here," Dawn said as she let go of Tara.

"T-Tara," Willow stammered, "what are you doing here? I mean it's okay that you're here, I just…"

"It's okay, Will, I asked Tara to come. I think we are going to need the two of you working together on this," Buffy told her.

Buffy called the members of the Scooby gang and scheduled a meeting at her house for that evening. She included Dawn, Spike, Faith and Tara along with Willow and Xander. Giles was still in England attempting to salvage his relationship with Olivia. From what Buffy understood from her dream-conversation with Giles, he was ready to give up and return to the states. She didn't want to contact him unless it was absolutely necessary.

Tara wasn't involved in the first part of the meeting, but she wanted to sit in any way as a non-participating observer. Even though she had received apologies from some of her friends when she visited them in their dreams, Buffy wanted to make sure there were no left over grievances among them before they attempted to move forward. The upcoming battle required that they all were able to work together as a team without trust issues getting in the way.

The meeting ended well, but it didn't start out that way. Once the ball got rolling it seemed that accusations got hurled from all sides.

"You may have believed that you were right but you didn't try to convince us that you were right."

"You just expected us to follow you because you said so."

"Wood was right; Faith is a slayer too, she deserved a chance to lead. Okay, so that didn't work out, at least it was a chance we were willing to take."

And on it went until the others either ran out of steam or they noticed that Buffy wasn't saying anything.

"What's the matter, Buff? Nothing to say?"

She answered calmly. "I'm listening, and waiting until all of the criticisms, condemnations and complaints have been voiced; then I will say what I have to say. Is everybody finished?" She looked at everyone sitting around the room.

No one said anything.

"I take that as a 'yes'. All right then. Convince you that I was right? How was I supposed to do that? You weren't listening to me. You were listening to Kennedy and Rona and Faith and Principle Wood and anyone else who wanted to weigh in. We were trying to fight a war; in war somebody has to lead. You decided you wanted Faith to lead. I thought it was the wrong decision and I was kicked out of my own house.

"I hope none of you ever tries that again." Buffy paused, leaving the barely veiled threat hanging in the air, waiting for a response. None came so she continued.

"I believed that I was right and I had to go with what I believed. If I hadn't, Caleb would have gotten control of the scythe, he had already been infused with the power of the First Evil, and the rest of you that went looking for the First's arsenal would be dead along with the rest of Sunnydale and California and most of this country by now.

"I have to go on my instincts, and they have never led me wrong. My instincts took me to the vineyard." She counted them off on her fingers. "To the guardian and the scythe that helped me kill Caleb, told me to ask the Powers for help, they did – helped me defeat the First's army of Turok-Hans and its bringers and close and seal the Hellmouth, to my last assignment and back here.

"I will always follow my instincts. If you cannot trust me to do what I believe is right, then say so now. I will ask for your opinions and seek your advice and listen to Giles' counsel, but in the end I must do what I believe is right. Contrary to what some may think, I do not think that being the slayer makes me right, but it does give me damn good instincts."

Faith spoke up first. "B is right. In the end her instincts are all that a slayer has to go on. My strengths lie in my ability to fight and to adapt; I expect that my leadership skills will develop over time. I knew that I wasn't ready to lead, but you guys sort of pushed me into it and as we all saw it was the wrong decision."

Spike spoke next. "I tried to tell you that, but of course none of you wankers would listen to me. Bunch of ungrateful traitors the lot of you."

Xander stood. "We were wrong, Buff, and I for one want you back as our friend and our leader."

"Me, too, Buffy," Willow said as she rose and walked over to Buffy to hug her.

She was joined by Xander and Dawn and Buffy found herself squashed in the middle of a group hug.

"Uh, guys, need to breathe here."

They all laughed and eased up but didn't let her go. The others breathed a sigh of relief and joined in the laughter. With that the tension was broken and any outstanding grievances against each other were resolved as the group banded together to come up with a plan to counter the attack from the next big evil.

The group was appalled when Buffy told them about what had happened to her mom (according to what she and Joyce had agreed upon before Buffy left the home dimension). Dawn, Willow and Tara wept openly; even Spike and Xander shed a few manly tears.

Buffy presented her ideas that she had formulated earlier in the day. They were very detailed and included specific actions for each person. She had a lot of people to talk to and she hoped that previous experience would go a long way in getting cooperation from her neighbors.

Willow, Tara and Dawn were assigned to man the computers. They were told to look for specific items and to get quotes for the earliest delivery dates. Xander was responsible for finding a specific type of lumber and certain chemicals in large enough supply to do what Buffy had described. Faith and Spike were assigned recon.

"Don't let it appear that you are anxious about anything," Buffy cautioned. "Remember Willie plays both sides of the street. There will be other tasks for you later."

Buffy's assignment was to convince the neighbors in the entire city block surrounding her house to support their efforts by evacuating their homes. She also needed specific permission from certain of her closest neighbors. Plus, she needed to contact Angel, something she really dreaded having to do. She dialed the number for Angel Investigations and Cordelia answered the phone.

"Hi, Cordelia, this is Buffy; how are you?"

"Fine. What do you want, Buffy?"

Buffy ignored the attitude and asked, "Are the rest of your team members available for a quick meeting over the phone?"

"Sure. Let me get everyone together; I'll call you back from Angel's office in five minutes."

"Good. Thanks, Cordy."

Five minutes later the phone rang and the caller ID indicated a call from Angel Investigations. Buffy answered after the first ring. After the initial pleasantries were out of the way she got right down to business.

"What kind of demonic activity are you seeing in LA? Is there anything out of the ordinary going on there?" she asked.

"That's just it," Angel's voice came over the phone line, "we are not seeing any demonic activity. We're not getting calls; when I patrol at night I don't even run into a stray vampire," he said. "We don't know what to make of it. This has been going on for months."

"Yes, Buffy, it's as though all of the evil decided to take a vacation out of LA. It is absolutely too quiet." This came from a very concerned ex-watcher.

"The same situation exists here," Buffy told them, "and considering that we are sitting on the mouth of hell that is just too disturbing. To me that only means one thing. Someone is planning something and I mean something big and I think it is headed to Sunnydale."

"What do you think it is, Buffy?" Cordelia asked.

"I don't know, but I'll keep you posted if I hear anything. I hope you will keep me updated as well. I don't like surprises."

"Of course we will and if there is anything we can do to help, just let us know," Wesley told her.

"Thank you, I appreciate that. There is one thing that I need right now."

"Name it," Angel said sincerely.

"I need permission to use the mansion for storage, if that is all right."

"Of course it is all right. You may use the mansion for any reason you deem necessary. I have the keys; when do you need them?"

"Tara will be in LA tomorrow and she will be heading back here later tomorrow evening. Is it okay if she stops by for the keys?" Buffy asked.

"Of course. I'll have them ready for her when she gets here." Angel had hoped that this was an opportunity for him to see Buffy, but it was not to be.

"Thank you, Angel. Thank you everyone."

With that the meeting ended. 'Well, that went better than I expected,' Buffy thought as she breathed a grateful sigh of relief. 'Now for the neighbors.'

In LA

Cordelia was the first one to speak. "Buffy sounded different," she voiced her thoughts without being aware of it, "more mature."

"Yes," said Wesley, "she sounded more poised, more confident."

Angel smiled but he didn't say anything.

"Any word from Lorne? Has he heard anything?" Gunn asked.

"Nothing. I went by Caritas last night and it was practically empty. There were no demons, only a few humans."

Later that evening Cordelia left Angel Investigations looking forward to a nice soak in her favorite bubble bath. As she arrived home Dennis, her resident ghostly roommate, started the water in her tub. "Ahh, Dennis," she said, "what would I do without you?" She undressed, stepped into the tub and sank into the wonderfully fragrant bubbles.

All of a sudden everything went black. Instead of falling back into the water, she transformed into Glorificus, hell god extraordinaire.

"Now this is more like it," Glori said as she enjoyed the luxurious bath, "this human knows how to live."

She reached into Cordelia's purse for her cell phone and dialed a number. When her call was answered she simply said, "Get the planning team over to the apartment right away. I don't know how much time I have and we have work to do." As she hung up the phone the First Evil, in the form of Buffy Summers, materialized seated on the nearby toilet seat.

"My, my, aren't we the pampered lady," it said in greeting.

"You're just jealous that you can't enjoy these human comforts," Glori retorted.

"Soon, Glorificus, soon. You will see."

Glori picked up Cordelia's purse again. "Let's see what's been going on since my last outing. Fortunately my host keeps good notes." She took out Cordelia's day planner, read through the notes for the last few days and sat straight up in the tub splashing water over the side of the tub and onto the floor.

"What is it?" the First asked.

"They had a phone call from that slayer today;" she hissed, "she suspects something is going on but she doesn't know what."

"So what? She'll be dead before she figures out what is happening."

"Not her," she yelled, "the other one. Buffy Summers is back."

"WHAT?" The First's voice seemed to rattle the shutters (if there were shutters in an apartment building) as it morphed back and forth between its Buffy persona and its true form. "She must have been the power surge that I felt this morning. She must have just reentered this dimension."

"Will you pick a form and stick with it. This is confusing."

"Look who's talking," the First said with a sneer as it settled back into Buffy's form.

"You never did tell me why you hate the slayer so much."

Before the First could answer a knock was heard on the bathroom door.

"Ah the planning committee is here. Come on in," she yelled and four vampires, three males and one female, former Jasmine's acolytes, entered. "You were saying?" she said to the First Evil as if the vamps were not there.

"Buffy Summers is responsible for destroying my entire army of Turok-Hans and my bringers and for my being banished back to hell. And do you know who gave her the means to do that? Angel."

"I didn't even know that he was acquainted with the slayer, she being his mortal enemy and all."

"Oh he's acquainted with her all right. He's in love with her."

"Well it looks like we have a common enemy. She defeated me too, beat me to a bloody pulp with a troll hammer and left me so weakened so that I could not retain control of the body. This allowed her watcher to smother Ben, my host for more than twenty years. Trust me when I say, 'I owe them both, big time.'"

The female vampire spoke up for the first time, "I thought he was in love with Cordelia. This means that we had planned to target the wrong person. We need to go after Buffy Summers since that seems to be the best way to bring Angel to his knees and to bring Angelus back."

One of the male vamps answered her. "That is not going to be as easy as it sounds. The only vampire that has come close to defeating her is Spike and he is now dating the other slayer."

"Has someone changed the rules? What is it with vampires and slayers in this dimension?" Glori wanted to know.

"No one has changed the rules," the male vamp answered. "It is only these four weirdos as far as we know. I suggest that it would be better if we send some of our human friends to Sunnydale to watch the slayer; they could keep an eye on her day and night, maybe even get close to her or her sister."

"Her sister? Do you mean that my key is still alive? Do you know what this means? I still have a way home. There must be a way to use the key more than once. I'll find it; I have to find it. This is truly good news. My brothers had better watch out. They are not rid of me yet.

"Now, new action items to be added to the plan, first, find out what the younger Summers girl is doing this summer, is she working, going to summer school, what? Then put someone on her, make sure this person becomes her new best friend but keeps her mouth shut about us; if she plans to return to school or go to college in the fall, make sure that we have someone on her wherever she goes.

"The next item is to prevent the slayer, **and ****by ****slayer ****I ****mean ****Buffy ****Summers**, prevent the slayer from finding out anything about our plans until it is too late for her to do anything about them.

"Next, let Angel continue his patrols, but stay out of his way, do not allow him to sense your presence."

The First picked up the ball and said, "Next, continue reaching out to demons that have a grudge against the slayer or any that are itching for a good fight. Make sure they are willing to act only on our orders; the last thing we need is for someone to jump the gun and go after the slayer on their own.

"Next, find out where each of the remaining potential slayers and their watchers are. I had most of them taken out last time; this time I want all of them eliminated. They have been spread around the world so taking them out all at once will be difficult, but not impossible.

"I suspect that the slayer will bring the best of them to Sunnydale to help her; that will leave the weaker ones little more than sitting ducks, then while she is too busy worrying about what we are doing, we can take out the others in a single night."

Another of the male vamps spoke up. "We need to station a few of our guys in hospitals and blood banks in and around LA. As our numbers increase it is becoming more and more difficult to get enough blood for all of us."

"All right, do it; just make sure to use either humans or vamps that are very old and can withstand being around blood. Pay for outdated blood if necessary. We don't want to tip our hand before it is necessary," Glori told him.

The First closed its eyes and honed in on Buffy. When it was done it said, "Make sure it is an innocent that you put with the slayer's sister and tell her to avoid the slayer at all costs; she can now read hearts and auras and detect evil miles away.

"That was some upgrade that the Powers gave their little slayer. I felt her power the instant she teleported back to this dimension. The Powers are always interfering with my plans, but not this time; I will not let them stop me again."

Glori smiled to herself. It was so nice having someone on her side who hated the slayer as much as she did.

The six beings continued their planning session until all current issues had been addressed. The vampires were then dismissed.

"I see your mate did his job well," the First told Glori. "Those idiots didn't suspect a thing. They couldn't tell truth from untruth, believed every word he said. That'll keep them busy and confused for a while."

Glori smiled. "Yes, you're right. I'm just glad that he was nowhere around when Angel started his little war against the Circle of the Black Thorn."

The two of them continued to chat long into the night like old friends, not like the evil beings that they really were.

End of Chapter 9

* I used Amita because I couldn't think of a better name.

Amita is Latin for 'aunt'.


	11. Dawn Comes to a Realization

Chapter 10 – Dawn Comes to a Realization

Started: 07/02/2010

Completed: 07/03/2010

In LA

Angel didn't know what to do about Cordelia. Her memory lapses were getting worse. She would disappear for hours, sometimes days at a time and when she returned she had no memory of where she had been or what she had been doing. He wondered whether or not this was due to having had a demon presence in her body or was a left over affect of her coma. He had spoken with Wesley about it, but they were both stumped.

Perhaps it was time to pay another visit to the Oracles. The last time he had gone to them he was told not to come back, but this was too important to let go. Cordy had been his seer; she was probably in this predicament because she had been trying to help him. He had to do something.

Angel stood in the underground chamber beneath the post office. 'The Gateway for Lost Souls,' he thought to himself, 'that is just about how I feel right now – a lost soul.' He put the herbs into the urn and lit them after speaking the words given to him by Doyle years before. The arc in the opposite wall filled with light and a passageway opened up before him. He entered and found himself facing two none too pleased Oracles.

"Why are you here lower being? You were told never to return."

"I know. Something is happening to my seer and I don't know how to help her. Tell me what to do."

"Prepare for war," was their only reply and Angel found himself thrown backward out of the arc to land heavily against a wall.

Back at the Hyperion Hotel his team members fired questions at him as soon as he entered.

"I told them why I was there and asked them to tell me what to do and all they said was 'Prepare for war' and threw me out none too gently," Angel told them.

"Okay, now this is too much of a coincidence," Gunn said. "First the slayer calls with news that she is expecting something big to hit Sunnydale and then the Oracles tell you to start preparing for war. I know it is not just me that thinks these two things are related somehow."

"I agree with Gunn," Wesley said. "This is too much of a coincidence. The two events have to be related. Let's start researching. If we don't find anything, I am going to contact Mr. Giles. I believe he is still in London. Together we should be able to come up with a definitive answer."

"In the meantime what do we do about Cordy?" Fred asked.

"I don't know," Wesley said honestly. "We've done all that we can. We've tried keeping an eye on her at all times, following her; I don't know, she just seems to disappear somehow. Short of locking her up in the cage downstairs, I don't know what else we can do."

He caught the looks on their faces. "I wasn't serious. Surely you wouldn't consider… Besides, Cordelia would never go for it."

A week later Cordelia yelled from the cage, "I know you're up there watching. Let me out of here now or I will torture, maim and kill each one of you. Slowly."

"Let her out," Angel said. "I can't stand that yelling any longer."

"You're just afraid she'll start on you first," Gunn said laughing.

Back upstairs a furious Cordelia faced her friends. "Well, what did your little experiment prove?"

"Nothing," answered Angel, Wesley and Fred.

"That you have a very annoying voice and your singing is almost as bad as Angel's." Gunn told her.

The others laughed and then apologized.

"I'm going home to sleep in my own bed for a change and I don't want to see either one of you for the rest of the day." Cordelia huffed as she left the hotel.

When she did not show up for work the next day, newspapers left at her door and a search of her apartment revealed that she had not been home in over a week.

In the meantime the First and Glori continued to amass a tremendous army of vampires, assorted demons and humans all with the same goals – find a way to neutralize the slayer's power so that she can be destroyed, destroy all of the potential slayers and their watchers, release Angelus and find a way for Glori and her mate, using Dawn as the key, to get back to her own dimension.

The deaths of Buffy, Faith and the remaining potential slayers would open the door for the First Evil to become corporeal and for evil to reign forever in this dimension.

The First was not taking any chances this time. Members of 'Evil's Army' were stationed everywhere and every member of Angel Investigations and their friends were followed day and night without their knowledge. The same thing applied to Buffy and her friends in Sunnydale.

Every available residence on the outskirts of Sunnydale was occupied by members of the Evil Army. The fact that humans resided in each abode made occupancy easy and above suspicion.

As was not unusual Dawn visited Angel at the Hyperion Hotel, just a stop in to say hello and to see what was going on. She did this regularly while Buffy was away and saw no reason to stop after her sister returned.

Members of AI were used to seeing her and thought nothing of discussing business or other issues in her presence. She had in fact told them about Buffy's return before Buffy called asking to use the mansion for storage.

The group was discussing Cordelia's latest disappearance when Fred suggested that Skip might be helpful. Dawn nearly choked on the doughnut that she was eating at the mention of Skip's name.

"Skip? Who is Skip," Dawn asked with what seemed to be extreme urgency.

"Just some demon that was after Cordy for unholy purposes a while back. That didn't work out too well for him. Why?" Fred replied.

Ignoring her question Dawn asked, "What does Skip look like?"

"We don't really know," Fred told her. "He is encased in some sort of metal shell. All we know is that he said that we could not kill him, that we could only destroy his metal shell."

Dawn paled. She could not tell Fred what she knew about Skip. She had to get back to Sunnydale as soon as possible and let Buffy know what she had learned. Not only was Glori's mate in this dimension, but she highly suspected that Cordelia was now Glori's host.

"Tell me how to find Skip."

"Oh it's simple you just say these words…" Fred wrote a few words on a piece of paper, "and voilà."

"Dawn, are you all right? You look positively pale." Wesley looked at her with concern. He was not used to the usually bubbly teenager looking so scared.

"I'm fine. I just forgot to do something before I left home and Buffy is going to kill me when she finds out. I have to go." She got up and left the hotel without further explanation.

"That was just weird," Gunn said. "What were you two talking about, Fred?"

"Skip."

"Skip?" Now Wesley was interested. "What about Skip?"

"She got all weird when I suggested that Skip might be helpful in finding Cordy."

"What would Dawn know about Skip? I'd better call Buffy to see what is going on."

In Sunnydale

With her advanced speed Dawn wasted no time getting to Sunnydale. She told Buffy what she had heard and what her suspicions were regarding Glori. When the phone rang and Dawn saw that the call was from Angel Investigations, she cautioned Buffy not to tell them anything about her suspicions.

Buffy put the phone back in the cradle after speaking with Wesley. "Dawn, what will happen to Cordelia when Glori is returned to your home dimension?"

"She probably won't survive the transfer. If she does then she will die along with Glori."

"We can't let that happen. We have to find a way to save her before Glori is sent back."

"You don't understand. If Glori leaves Cordelia's body, she'll just inhabit someone else and probably kill Cordelia in the process. That's how it works."

"What about you Dawn? Whose body do you inhabit?"

"Nobody's. This body was made from you, remember. It didn't exist in this realm before. All they did was borrowed a few cells from you and poured me into them. This is how I actually look. My body will look the same when I return home, minus a few cells."

"Good. I get that. We still have to find a way to save Cordelia."

"When I am able, I will contact my brothers. They may have a way to make the transfer, even if it means that they have to come into this realm themselves."

"How long before you'll be able to contact them?"

"Soon. My strength grows every day."

"You were right not to tell AI your suspicions about Glori inhabiting Cordelia. They would try to make the separation themselves and that would be disastrous. If Glori finds out that they know that Cordy is her host, Cordy will be dead before they can save her."

"Why are you so anxious to save Cordelia? All she ever did was to try to make your life miserable and to take Angel from you every chance she got."

"She's a human being, Dawn."

"I know. I'm sorry. It's just that without my Identical to balance me, the stronger I get in this dimension the more powerful the negative side of my personality grows. That's another reason that I need to go home."

"What is an Identical?"

"In my world members of the royal family that are destined to rule are born identical twins, one twin is physically stronger and the other is mentally and morally stronger. According to our beliefs two Identicals make up a whole being, they balance each other. Without an Identical a being is not whole.

"I was always physically stronger than Glorificus, which is why she murdered my Identical, my weaker twin. She thought that would weaken me and give her a chance to kill me as well; that's why I volunteered to come to this dimension to watch her. I intend to make her pay for what she did and the stronger I get while I'm here, the more able I'll be when I get home."

"Dawn, you don't mean that you…"

"Yes, I do. I intend to be the instrument that my brothers use to destroy Glorificus, but not before I make her watch as I destroy the only thing that exists that she cares about."

"Skip." Buffy said realizing what Dawn was saying.

"Skip." Dawn confirmed.

End of Chapter 10


	12. Preparing for War

Chapter 11 – Preparing for War

Started: 07/03/2010

Completed: 07/03/2010

A/N1: Most of the following events were previously published in a fic called 'Preparing for War'. I felt it was better to incorporate that logic here than to continue with two very similar fics. I hope this is not too confusing.

A/N2: This chapter is rated PG for off-color words.

After getting support from the last of her neighbors and moving forward with plans for weapons and training, Buffy decided to take a walk around the neighborhood. She could detect evil in the town, but not in her immediate vicinity. She took a quick sweep of the cemeteries and after finding neither vampires nor other demons she decided to head for home.

As she turned the corner leading to her house she felt vampires in the area. She took off running at high speed and saw her friends being attacked by vampires on her front lawn. She jumped into the fight and in a few minutes the vamps were dust. It was then that she noticed her father standing in the doorway with a look of horror on his face.

"Dad, what are you doing here? Everybody get inside. Now! We're about to have a lot more company."

Just as Buffy closed the door, more vampires approached her walkway. "Come on out and play, slayer," the leader yelled. "The party's just getting started."

"Willow, take my father up to the guest bedroom; your stakes are already in place. Dad, get under the bed and stay there." Her father started to protest, but Buffy said with a voice of authority that brooked no debate, "Do as I say, Dad."

"Where do you want me, Buffy?"

She turned to Tara. "Tara, you go to Dawn's bedroom window. Your stakes are already set up there."

"Dawn go upstairs and lie flat in Mom's bathtub. Don't come out until I give the 'All clear' signal."

"But I want to help," Dawn protested.

Buffy gave her a look and turned to the others. Dawn knew that further protest was futile. Even though Dawn could not be killed in this dimension, Buffy did not want to take a chance on her getting seriously injured; she was too important both to their current fight and to her home dimension.

"Spike, you and Xander take the kitchen windows. Crossbows are under each window and your arrows have the special tips. Faith you take the corner window in Mom's bedroom that overlooks the side front of the house; Giles and I will cover the front and the other side. Remember, everybody, open just your weapons tiles and at no time do you open a window or a door. Go."

Faith was the first one up the stairs.

Willow grabbed Hank Summers by the arm and pulled him up the stairs.

"Come on, Dawn," Tara said and rushed up the stairs with Dawn at her heels.

Buffy looked through one of the secret peepholes in the front wall. Vampires were everywhere and still more were approaching the house. When she thought everyone in the house was in place, Buffy hit the blackout switch which darkened the inside of the house and a second switch that turned on flood lights all around the outside of the house. This was the signal for everyone inside to attack. With the vamps outside temporarily blinded by the bright lights, the humans wasted no time in their assault.

Faith was deadly with her crossbow. Willow and Tara had practiced long hours magically propelling the special wooden stakes that Buffy had had them carve. The practice paid off. Each projectile hit its target.

Spike and Xander were not as accurate as the slayers and the witches, but with the specially tipped arrows that caused the vamps to burst into flames they were doing sufficient damage to see their enemies' numbers dwindling.

In the living room Buffy and Giles fired similar arrows that ignited upon contact with an object. The front lawn looked like a fireworks display with all of the burning vamps. The few remaining vampires retreated and disappeared into the night.

Buffy gave the signal asking for a status. Each person in turn reported 'clear'. She then gave the 'All clear' and everyone breathed a sigh of relief. She left on one outside light on the front and back of the house but returned the house and surroundings to normal status. Everyone returned to the living room tired, but unharmed.

Buffy then remembered her father. "Where's Dad?"

"I forgot about him. When I heard the 'All clear' signal I was so happy that it was over, I just came running down the stairs. I'll go up and get him." Willow said.

They could hear Hank's voice yelling at Willow before they saw him. "What the hell is going on here? Who were those people outside and why were they attacking this house? Young lady I demand that you answer me at once."

Willow wisely kept quiet and returned to the living room with a very angry Hank following her.

"Buffy, I demand that you answer me at once." He repeated the questions he had asked Willow. "What the hell is going on here? Who were those people outside and why were they attacking this house?" He ended his tirade with "What have you done now?"

Before Buffy could answer, Giles punched Hank squarely in the face sending him sprawling onto the floor.

"If you will sit down and shut up, we will explain to you what is going on here and what Buffy has done." Ripper had clearly made his presence known. He turned to Buffy. "May I do the honors?"

"Be my guest."

Giles reached down and offered Hank a hand up. Once his victim was seated, Giles proceeded to explain to him what was going on in Sunnydale, who Buffy was, and what she had succeeded in accomplishing tonight.

Hank was stunned. He still did not want believe what he had heard.

"Look out the front window," Giles told him.

There were piles of dirt all over the lawn and walkway, even on the front porch. "What happened outside? Who did this?"

Without answering Giles told him to look out the kitchen window. The condition of the back yard and porch were similar to what he had seen from the front window.

"Are you telling me that all of that dirt is what is left of the people that were outside?"

"How many ways do we have to say it, Dad?" Dawn was exasperated at this point. "Those weren't people; those things were vampires and without Buffy, by now they would have overrun Sunnydale and killed everyone in this town to get to me."

"What do you mean? Why would they want to get to you?"

It was explanation time again and Giles proceeded to explain to Hank about Dawn, Glori, the monks, everything.

Surprisingly Hank had little trouble accepting that Dawn wasn't really his daughter. Either that or what Giles had told him had not yet registered. "Then why don't you all leave? Why do you stay here?"

Now it was Buffy's turn to try. "You don't get it, do you? You think that if we leave and let them overrun Sunnydale, they will stop there? They won't. They will spread their evil throughout this state, this country, the world. Evil gets its strength from the mouth of hell itself and the strongest Hellmouth in the world is located right here in Sunnydale. It has to be stopped _here_." She gestured using her fist for emphasis.

"And you're the only one that can stop it?" he asked with disdain.

"Yes. Me. And those who fight with me." She spread her arms wide indicating the rest of her friends.

"Buffy, what is the matter with you? You are sick again. Don't you see how insane this sounds? We went through this when you were fifteen. Don't you remember? You know there are no such things as vampires."

"Oh, yeah, Dad, I remember when I was fifteen you had me committed to an insane asylum until I admitted that there were no such things as vampires."

"WHAT?" The room erupted in anger.

"You bloody bastard." Spike in full game face went after Hank. Grabbing him by the lapels with both hands, Spike pulled him up until they were nearly nose to nose. "What in the bloody hell do you think I am?" he demanded.

Hank fainted. Spike dropped him on the floor and turned to Buffy to apologize.

"You don't have to apologize for that," Buffy told him. "I enjoyed watching."

The others agreed.

When Hank was awake again, he sat up holding his head. He accepted the glass of water that Willow offered him and turned to Buffy. "I made an ass of myself, didn't I?"

"Yes," Buffy replied. "You did."

"So everything that you tried to tell your mother and me in LA was true?"

"Yes."

"And Joyce knows that you are the slayer?"

"Yes."

"Where is Joyce by the way?"

"She's in Cincinnati with Aunt Jean. She will not be returning to Sunnydale."

"Why didn't Dawn go with Joyce?"

Dawn interrupted. "I didn't want to go. Buffy and Giles are teaching me to use the crossbow. When they feel I am proficient enough, I will be allowed to join the fight." She and Buffy were still not ready to let everyone know who she really was.

"Never. I will not allow it. I am still your father and I…"

"Dad, that's enough for tonight," Buffy said. "We are all tired. I suggest we get some sleep now and continue the Q and A session tomorrow."

Hank knew when to give up – for now. "Very well. Tomorrow then."

Buffy continued as if he had not spoken. "As for sleeping arrangements Dawn, let Dad have your room and you can sleep with me."

"Okay."

"Willow and Tara, you still have mom's room."

"Thanks, Buffy," they both said.

"Faith, the sofa in mom's office folds out into a queen size bed and the room has no windows, so…"

"Spike and I can share," Faith said with a grin before Buffy could finish her sentence.

"Giles, the guest room has two beds. Do you mind sharing a room with Xander?"

"Not at all. Come along, Xander."

"Man I'm going to sleep like a log; don't wake me," Xander said yawning.

"Buffy, the wards?"

"Yeah. Thanks, Will. Good night all."

After Buffy put a ward of protection around the house, everyone turned and left the living room anxious to get to bed. Buffy turned off the downstairs lights and climbed the stairs. When she opened her bedroom door, she saw Dawn sitting up in her bed waiting for her.

"Buffy, what are we going to do about Dad? I know he is going to try to take me away."

"Don't worry, Dawn, remember you're eighteen, he doesn't control you anymore."

"Oh, yeah. That's right." She was asleep before her head hit the pillow.

Buffy was not so fortunate. She was worried. She knew that their next encounter with evil would be worse than tonight. There were no prophecies that told them what to expect next. She had to be prepared for whatever came after them.

"We're going to need the AI team and the more capable potential slayers. I'll ask Giles to contact the other watchers so we can get their slayers here right away. I'd better teleport them here rather than take a chance on having them intercepted by Glori and the First. I wish I had some other weapons. Hmm. Maybe Dad can be helpful after all."

With those thoughts on her mind, Buffy fell into an uneasy sleep.

Once the kitchen was cleaned after breakfast the next morning, everyone sat in the living room discussing the events of the previous night. Hank seemed to have had a change of heart. When asked if he wanted to now voice his objections from the previous night, he shook his head and said that he saw things differently in the light of day and asked if there was anything he could do to help.

Giles was very pleased and very impressed with the way the battle had gone. He had arrived from England less than a week before, but he could see the obvious changes in his slayer. He smiled to himself; to him Buffy would always be his slayer.

There were also changes to the house; it seemed to have been fortified. There were almost undetectable peep holes to the outside in some of the walls, the house was newly painted, he suspected with some kind of flame retardant paint, the windows had been replaced with bullet proof one-way glass so that even with the draperies open, you could not see into the house from the outside, and there was a supply of weapons at each window and each door.

The slayer was prepared for any assault upon her residence.

"Buffy, your planning for last night's attack was brilliant. How did you know they would attack in such numbers?"

"Things had been too quiet here. For months now Faith has encountered little to no vampires on patrol, just a stray demon here and there. This didn't seem right, so I called the AI team to see what was going on there. They told me that they were experiencing the same thing. It seemed to them that the vampires had either left LA or were hiding out, waiting for some big event.

"To me this meant one of two things – they were either heading here or they were already here. In either case their plans included the Hellmouth. So I started to prepare.

"The first thing I did was to reinforce the seal over the Hellmouth and to put a ward of protection around it so that it cannot be accessed.

"I remembered Willow telling us how she killed a vamp with a pencil and that gave me the idea for the mini stakes that I had them carve and store upstairs. Willow and Tara practiced for hours until they perfected delivering a stake to a target without fail. That is also why I asked you to teach Xander and Dawn how to use the crossbow.

"The wards that I have on this house and all of the houses on this street also have a rejection spell in them that cause any object fired or thrown at a house to be negatively propelled away from the house and back at its source.

"I have had special protective goggles made that will allow humans to see in the dark, even better than Spike does, in case some of the team has to be outside at night. I have a pair for you if you want them and also a pair for the human members of the AI Team and each of the potential slayers. This will help them on patrol."

"What about you, Buffy?"

She smiled. "You haven't noticed? Look at my eyes."

Giles looked closely at Buffy's eyes. Hank tried to see them as well. "What?" Giles asked. "They look the same to me."

"While I was away I had surgery on my eyes to give me better night vision by a surgeon recommended by Mom's friend who used to be in Secret Ops."

"Did it work?" Hank wanted to know.

Buffy gave a little smirk. "I can read the eye chart at midnight."

Giles and Hank could not respond as their eyes bulged; the others in the room laughed.

In an instant Buffy changed the conversation. Her friends recognized the change in her. She was in serious, no-holds-barred, ready-for-anything attack mode. She rose from her seat to stand before the group and spoke.

"I don't know what is coming next, but my slayer senses are on overload. I am assuming that last night was only a pre-cursor to the big event and it's going to take every advantage we can get to defeat it, whatever _it_ is.

"I have not heard of any accelerated assault against the potential slayers, so it looks like whoever is behind this seems to be targeting only us. Either that or we are their first target and the potential slayers are next.

"I need everyone on board and we are going to need more help than we currently have. I have already contacted the AI Team and they are willing to join us. Giles, I need you to contact the other watchers. Ask each of them to have their best trained slayer ready for me to teleport here within the week."

"Okay, but where will all of them stay? They can't all stay here like before."

"I know. I already contacted the owners of the two houses on either side of me and the large house across the street. Before they left town they gave me permission to make whatever modifications to their houses that I deemed necessary and to use their homes for whatever I needed. When I updated this house, I did the same for theirs. We also have a common phone line with intercom so that we can have communications among the houses without having to go outside.

"It seems that my neighbors have noticed more than I thought they had. Except for this house this entire block is unoccupied and all of the houses have wards on them so that the enemy cannot set up occupancy in them. I have agreed to make all repairs to these houses that get damaged in this war.

"I have been able to acquire machines that produce both regular stakes and the mini stakes that Willow and Tara use and that produce our arrows. Angel has given me permission to use the mansion for any reason I deem necessary. There I house the machines, a large supply of specially treated wood to be used to create our weapons, the chemicals used to make the tips ignite on contact and our supply of holy water."

Giles was in awe. "My gods, Buffy. Where did you get the money to accomplish all of this?"

She couldn't hide the look of self-satisfaction on her face. "Thanks to our resident expert witches slash hackers, it seems that the Watchers' Council had more funds stashed away than even you have been able to find out about. I simply closed one of the accounts and had the money transferred to accounts around the country in my name. It will only be used in the fight against evil. I felt like they owed it to us."

"That's right."

"Damned straight."

"I'll say they did."

These words and others came from the other team members.

"I agree," said Giles. "Perhaps after this is over, you, your resident experts and I can get together and talk?"

Buffy nodded and continued. "Together the Scoobies and I worked out a system of communicating that allows us to contact each other when necessary and to report statuses. That's what those little boxes are that they wear attached to their waists; we used them for the first time last night. They worked well.

"Dad this is where you come in; that is, if you're still willing to help."

"I am. What do you need me to do?"

"Do you know anyone who knows anything about making handguns?"

"Yes, I think so. Why do you ask? What do you want with a handgun? I thought Mr. Giles said that bullets would not kill vampires."

"Not metal bullets and gunpowder. I want a very special handgun made."

"How special? What are you planning?"

"With help from Willow and Tara, Xander has been able to adapt one of the machines to produce hollow wooden projectiles about the size of a bullet. I have a special use for these if things go as I have planned.

"I want a gun that will silently, or at least quietly, shoot these mini wooden stakes instead of bullets. I have a feeling I am going to need all the help I can get really soon."

"Let me make some phone calls and see if I can call in a favor or two. How many pieces do you think you'll need?"

"Four dozen should do it. Where is the company located that you are thinking about using?"

"The company headquarters are in Europe, but they have a factory right here in California just a few miles outside LA. Why?"

"I want a couple of our guys to test the guns before we approve them. Fred from the AI team and Tara should be the right people to do the testing." She looked at Tara who nodded her assent. "The guns should be light weight, but more important than that, they need to be dependably accurate."

"I'll make the call right now." Hank headed for the kitchen.

"Dad, use your cell phone. I don't want the call traceable to this house."

"Okay." Hank had to smile despite himself. He turned briefly to look at Buffy. She was so much more than he expected her to be. She was a leader, a fighter; looking at her now, he couldn't help but think of an army general marshaling his troops for battle.

A sense of pride that he had never before felt for Buffy filled him and as he reached into his coat pocket for his cell phone he thought to himself, 'We are going to win this thing and when it is over, I am really going to get to know my daughter.'

End of Chapter 11


	13. One Plan Fails

Chapter 12 – One Plan Fails

Started: 07/04/2010

Completed: 07/06/2010

A/N1: Dawn and Amita are the same person.

In Sunnydale

Buffy and Dawn had just finished putting away a supply of groceries for their house. They had already stocked the refrigerators, pantries and basements of the other three houses in their network. They had enough food and blood to last a month at least for the number of people they were expecting and two vampires.

"Buffy I think I'm ready to contact my brothers and let them know where to find Skip. They can pick him up and be back home before Glori knows anything about it."

"Good. How long will it take?"

"Less than a minute."

Dawn closed her eyes and concentrated. She rose briefly off the floor and back down again. "They have him," she said with a wicked grin. "I wish I could see Glori's face when she finds out what I've done."

In LA

The First was incensed. "I send one hundred vampires after the slayer and eight of you come back after she and a handful of humans defeat you all without getting so much as a scratch themselves. You are supposed to be among the most feared creatures on the earth and yet a few humans demolished a whole army of you."

One of the eight vampires that escaped attempted to justify their loss by saying, "She was ready for us; we could barely get near the house and they never came outside. We didn't stand a chance."

"Silence!" The First roared as it morphed into its true form. "I don't want to hear your excuses. Get out."

The First, Glori and the four members of the planning team remained in the warehouse that had been chosen as 'evil central'. They wanted to go over the last details of the actions to be taken in their planned takeover of Sunnydale and the world.

"Are you telling me that we have found no one who can get past the protective shields that the slayer keeps around her house?" Glori asked. When everyone indicated 'no', she continued. "I can get through, but that would leave me alone against her and her whole team that includes at least two witches and her watcher. I will not underestimate her this time and with that super slayer upgrade that the Powers gave her she will be more difficult than ever to defeat."

The female vampire on the planning team spoke up. "One of the witches is taking classes at UC Sunnydale three days a week and the younger sister works at a store in the mall five days a week. We could grab them to see how far the slayer would go to get them back."

"That's an idea, Kahti, but we need more diversions than that. We need her forces spread so thin that she doesn't know which way to go and we need it coordinated so that it all happens at the same time. Also those targeting the potentials earth wide need to know when to strike." Glori replied.

"The world-wide task force is ready at a moment's notice. We have priority communication lines set up so that they can all get the word at once. Our workers at the various phone companies and other communications centers set that up long ago and we test it weekly," reported Jason, a heretofore silent member of the team. Before he was turned he was an expert in telecommunications and that skill served him well in his current capacity.

"I knew that we were right when we chose you; you have done well," the First complimented the shy vampire.

"She has outsmarted us at every turn," reported a second vamp named Huston. "Spike and the two slayers seldom if ever leave the house unless it is to patrol and then they never go alone. There is never a time when everyone is gone from the house; at least two people are there at all times and the wards are always up, even during the daytime.

"We 'spoke to' the man at the store where she used to grocery shop. He said that no one from that house has ordered food from him in weeks. We thought about sabotaging her food to knock them all out, but we can't figure out where they are shopping. It certainly isn't locally and they aren't ordering take-out either."

"They have witches in the house; they're teleporting it in, you idiot. Find out where they're getting it and where Spike is getting his blood. See if Willie knows anything. That little weasel would rat on his own mother."

At that moment a call came in on their private line. "Put it on speaker," she demanded.

A voice came over the line. "Since the failed attack on the slayer she seems to be closing ranks. Miss Rosenberg dropped out of classes at UC Sunnydale, Xander Harris took a leave of absence from his construction job and the younger Summers sister quit her job in the mall, all on the day after the attack. As of this morning the second slayer, Faith, moved out of her apartment and into the Summers' house. I assume this means that Spike is doing the same. Also the watcher, Mr. Giles, is staying in the Summers' house."

"Have there been any new arrivals at any of the houses on Revello Drive?" asked the First.

"Not as of an hour ago. No."

"Very well. Keep us posted if anything happens." Glori hung up the phone.

Kahti had another idea. "Since they are all in the same house, why don't we just take a helicopter over one night and drop a bomb on the house? That'll kill them all in one shot."

"No, don't do that." The First answered quickly. "There is a repel spell on all of the houses on Revello Drive; anything fired at any of the houses is immediately returned to the source."

Glori was becoming uneasy. Without being aware of it, the slayer was throwing a monkey wrench into every plan that they put in place.

The phone rang again. This time the third male vamp, Kroger, picked up the receiver and growled, "Report."

Without hesitation the voice on the phone line said, "We have occupied all available properties in Sunnydale beyond a one mile radius of the Summers' house. Weapons and supplies are in place and we have moved in as many of our fighters as the properties will accommodate without arousing suspicion. We are ready to act on a moment's notice."

And so it went. All of the preparation work seemed to be falling into place. All factions reported in; all had completed their assignments and were awaiting orders to move to the last phase of the project. They were ready.

Glori couldn't wait to go home. "Is my mate still being guarded?"

"Yes. He has not left his chamber and no one has entered since he left here yesterday morning."

Her final instructions were simple, "Make sure that nothing happens to my key and to my mate." She disconnected the phone. "I have to let the host make an appearance at the hotel so I can see if they know anything. I will return before the end of the day."

This meant that Glori was still unaware that Skip had been captured and returned to their home dimension.

In Sunnydale

Buffy had the phone on speaker. Others in her living room were Giles, Willow, Xander, Dawn, Faith, Spike, Tara and Hank. They were in an update meeting with the AI team.

"We were attacked by at least a hundred vampires two nights ago. Fortunately none of us were badly injured. If Glori and the First are trying to overwhelm us with numbers, they're doing a good job. The main reason for this meeting was to find out when the AI team would be able to join us. There are nine of us and Giles asked the other watchers to let us take their better trained potential slayers to help. They are in Sunnydale as well."

Angel looked at his team members for their consent and said, "We are ready to join you at any time, Buffy. We can be there tonight and we can stay at the mansion."

"No," Buffy said hurriedly. "Let me know when you are ready to leave and I will teleport you two at a time directly to my living room. My house is being watched at all times and I don't want the enemy to know what is going on inside or what resources we have. I have made accommodations for your team in a house next door to mine. There are tunnels connecting the four houses that we have in our network."

"There is just one problem here. We haven't seen Cordy in days. I'm sure that she would want to be in on this fight. I'll leave messages for her here and at her apartment."

Buffy and Dawn looked at each other. "Angel, don't do that; whatever you do, don't let Cordelia know anything about our plans," Buffy said urgently. "We need to get you and your team out of there now, before she comes back."

"Buffy, what's going on? Do you know something about Cordy's disappearances?"

"Yes, but I can't take time to explain it to you now. We need to get you out of there within the hour. I'll explain as soon as we have you safely here. Call me back when you are ready."

As soon as Angel hung up the phone Cordelia walked through the front door. She was greeted with "Cordy, are you all right?" "Where have you been? We haven't seen you in over a week." Cordelia just stared at them. Half an hour later she walked out again.

Before the AI team arrived, Dawn agreed with Buffy that it was time to tell everyone the truth about herself. Half an hour later the Sunnydale team and the AI team (Angel, Wesley, Gunn, Fred and Lorne) minus Cordelia sat in Buffy's living room. Buffy rose and addressed the group.

"As most of you know Dawn is not actually my parents' daughter, but in my heart she is my sister. You are also aware of the fact that the god Glorificus, also known as Glori, was exiled to earth inhabiting the body of a young human male named Ben. To prevent Glori from killing Dawn in a quest to use her as a key to access her home dimension I fought Glori then jumped into the portal to her world to save Dawn's life.

"What you don't know is that contrary to what was believed at the time, Glori did not die when Ben, her host, was killed, instead she simply moved to another host and escaped Sunnydale. She and her mate have now aligned themselves with the First Evil and Jasmine's former acolytes in an all out war against mankind starting with me, Faith and the rest of the slayer line.

"More important than all of that and what you also don't know is that one, her mate is the demon that you know as Skip, two, Dawn's name is actually Amita and she is Glori's sister sent here to watch Glori and three, Glori's new host is now Cordelia."

The room erupted. The AI group was incensed, especially Angel. "How long have you known?" "How could you not tell us this?" "We could have been trying to find a way to save Cordelia." "Buffy, how could you keep this information about Dawn from us?"

Calmly and deliberately Buffy answered.

"I will answer your questions one at a time. I found out two days ago after Dawn returned home from LA. I didn't tell you because I knew that you would try to "save Cordelia" thereby letting Glori know that you knew who she was and assuring Cordelia's death. You cannot save Cordelia; Dawn and her brothers are the only ones who can and her brothers are not on earth. They are currently trying to find a way to separate Glori from her host without killing the host. We have to give them time to do that.

"As for how could I keep the information about Dawn from you, she asked me not to tell you because she didn't want you to be upset with her. She wanted me to tell you after she left. That was before we knew about Skip and Cordelia.

"Skip has been captured and returned to his home dimension and as soon as Glori finds out all hell is going to break loose. That is why I had to get all of you out of LA as soon as possible. You wouldn't stand a chance against her. She and the First have amassed a tremendous army and they have them housed in and around LA and Sunnydale awaiting the signal to attack. I can feel its evil and it is almost overwhelming. I need to take out this army and I need your help to do it."

The group started to complain again.

Dawn stood and spoke in a voice that sounded like a low rumbling thunder. "Shut. Up."

That got their attention.

"All she has ever done is to try to protect you and all she has ever gotten from you is grief. Why don't you at least listen to her plan before you start complaining?" She was trembling as she tightened her hands into fists.

Buffy walked to Dawn and put her arms around her. She knew that right now Dawn was feeling very deeply the loss of her Identical. Dawn took a few deep calming breaths, thanked her sister and sat down.

Angel surprised everyone, especially Buffy, when he said, "Dawn is right. We attacked Buffy before we heard the whole story." He turned to Buffy. "I apologize for my words and actions just now. Knowing you as I do, I know that you are not capable of what we have accused you of. I know that your intentions are always to do what is best for everyone else."

"I apologize too, Buffy, and I agree with Angel. Our reactions were harsh and inappropriate." This came from Wesley.

"Thank you. Both of you."

Willow spoke up and asked, "Dawn, if you're Glori's sister, do you have the same power that she does? Can you fight her?"

Buffy could see that Dawn was still upset so she said, "Will, leave Dawn alone. Direct your questions to me."

"I'm okay, Buffy. Thanks. I can answer her questions." She turned to Willow.

"You saw Glori in action before so you have an idea of how powerful she is. I am far more powerful than Glori. This is normal for my class in my home dimension; here I am more powerful than you can imagine. We cannot be killed here. If I fought Glori now, any harm that I did to her would also be done to Cordelia, then when the two of them were separated, Cordelia would be dead. Buffy doesn't want Cordelia harmed, that's why we're waiting for my brothers. Anymore questions?"

"No," Willow replied startled at Dawn's attitude.

Dawn was not angry with Willow; she was struggling hard to maintain control over the darkness within herself.

"Anymore questions from anyone before we continue?" Buffy asked.

There were none.

She pushed a button on the phone in the corner of the room and asked "Slayers can you hear me?"

A chorus of "Yes" came from the intercom.

"Good. Okay everybody here is the plan."

Buffy laid out her plan in details. Four team leaders: Angel, Faith, Spike, Buffy.

Angel's team consisted of his AI group, seven slayers and Tara who, in addition to being a witch, was very proficient with small wooden projectiles and with the new guns provided by Hank. She was to protect Fred and Lorne, if necessary. They were assigned to occupy the house to the left of 'defense central', 1630 Revello Drive.

Faith's team consisted of Giles, Xander, Willow, Hank and eleven slayers. Willow had the same weapons proficiencies as Tara except that her skills as a witch were greatly reduced; she was to backup Hank who, during training, proved to be better than average with a sword. They were assigned to occupy the house to the right of 'defense central'.

Spike's team included himself and nineteen slayers. They were assigned to occupy the large house directly across the street.

Buffy's team included only herself and Dawn. She knew that Glori and the First would be targeting her and she was ready for them. With Dawn's speed and strength and Buffy's magic and enhanced powers, she was sure that the two of them could handle their end of the fight, plus Dawn needed to assist her brothers in freeing Cordelia.

The three team leaders assigned sub teams and responsibilities. No one was to fight alone. Each team leader and at least one other person on each team carried the communication devices that had been used when the vampires attacked the house.

"Team leaders, you need to train every day with your teams. Each house has been supplied with a more than ample supply of weapons and ammunition. Get familiar with the weapons. I suggest that you assign persons on your teams to make sure that the guns are kept loaded when we are attacked in the houses. I will give you as much notice as possible when I feel them gathering for the attack."

Buffy handed the scythe to Faith and said, "Try this. It is specifically programmed for me, but it should work for you, too."

Faith took a couple of swings with the scythe. "Whoa. It'll take some getting used to but I should be able to handle it."

Three nights later Dawn rushed into the house. "Buffy, it looks like half of LA is headed this way and they are fully armed. All roads leading into Sunnydale are swamped and the police aren't even trying to stop them."

"I know. I can feel them coming. Get the others down here." When the four houses were assembled, Buffy addressed them. "Slayers, contact your watchers as soon as this meeting is over. Tell them that war is imminent and they and their charges should not leave Refuge (the nearest safe house) until we get back to them to let them know when it is over.

"Demons from LA are headed this way. Get ready. The fight begins tonight. I expect that those already in Sunnydale will attack first to give their friends time to get here. I will stop as many of them as I can before they reach you."

Angel's concerned voice came over the line, "Buffy, you can't take them on alone."

"Don't worry, I won't be alone," she said looking at Dawn. "My sister will be with me."

Dawn smiled and gave Buffy a thumbs up.

A wave of vampires came first. They were easy. Buffy simply poured fireballs down and dusted half of them while Dawn took out the other half. With its army reduced by a third in minutes the First was again furious. "She can't do that," it complained to Glori. "What's the matter, slayer?" it taunted. "Must you resort to tricks from the Powers? Are you afraid to fight my warriors head on?"

The next wave consisted of humans and vampires. The First had reasoned, and rightly so, that Buffy would not simply obliterate humans regardless of their intent. Being a slayer it was easy to distinguish a human from a vampire. Buffy simply removed the humans from the vampires and deposited them, still armed, into the three police stations in Sunnydale. Chaos reigned as the unaware policemen were assaulted by groups of armed and dazed humans.

Dawn was a terror in battle. Buffy could see the path that Dawn took as she wiped out hundreds of vampires at a time. This still left her teams greatly outnumbered. She put up a fire wall singeing vamps as it erected and reducing their numbers by more than half. Those outside the fire wall were quickly eliminated and Buffy joined Dawn and her fighters in eliminating the remaining vamps. Apparently the First had counted on over-running its opposition with sheer numbers. It had not counted on the ineptness of newbie vampires.

Though tired, their first encounter had been successful. None of the defenders had been killed or seriously injured. Buffy teleported each team back to its assigned house and healed the wounded.

She put up invisible force fields in various spots around Sunnydale including its outer perimeter. Any vampire encountering a force field would be burned to dust immediately; any demon touching one would be severely burned. The First directed its army to Revello Drive. As they charged forward they kept running into the invisible force fields.

"We can't get through," a demon yelled.

It was time for the First to bring out its big guns. Its magicians broke through the defensive barriers and the third wave comprised mostly of demons of every sort imaginable charged the streets of Sunnydale. 'Time for plan B,' Buffy thought to herself. She knew that she was tiring considering the amounts of energy she had been expending and she would not be able to successfully face Glori in her current condition.

With their best marksmen on rooftops of the houses on Revello Drive and the others from the security of their assigned houses the defense team members fired round after round from the guns that Hank had supplied. Inside the wooden pellets fired from the guns were chemicals that caused them to explode on impact and demons found themselves losing various body parts without actually coming in direct contact with the opposition.

"What kind of enemy is this?" roared a huge four-armed demon as it lost its two left arms. It yelled to its fellow demons to retreat. They turned to find themselves facing the true image of the First Evil.

"Where do you think you're going? Turn around and fight," it demanded.

"Fight what?" one of the demons asked before it was hit by an exploding bullet and blown to bits.

With the last of its retreating army fading into the distance the First had to once again admit defeat.

"You may have won this round, slayer, but I have destroyed the rest of your slayer line that you left unguarded."

Buffy's voice came from nowhere. "Guess again."

The First sought the demons of its assignation squad around the world that it had placed in position to kill the remaining potential slayers and their watchers. "No No Nooo," it raged as each time it found its demons dead in the streets.

"You really didn't think it would be that easy, did you?" one of the Powers spoke again in Buffy's voice.

Realizing the source of the voice the First Evil thought it finally had an advantage. "You broke the rules," it accused. "You lose."

"No," came the voice again. "You broke the rules years ago when you tried to get the ensouled vampire to kill our slayer. Since then, you have been playing by our rules; you were just too blind to see it.

"Did you really think that you could penetrate heaven with your black magic? _Never__!_While you thought you were allowing the witch to take credit for our slayer's resurrection, we were allowing you to think that you had been successful in penetrating heaven.

"Never again will your influence be allowed in this or any other of earth's human dimensions. Our slayer will destroy your emissaries and earth's humans will be ruled by their own consciences without your influence. Back to hell you go - for good this time."

With Faith's team and Spike's team safely within their assigned houses, Buffy prepared herself to face Glori. Angel insisted that he was not leaving her to face Glori without him. He, Wesley, Gunn, Fred and Lorne joined Buffy and the Scoobies in her living room just as they felt the force field around the house being attacked. Before Buffy could act she found herself once again facing Glorificus.

Amita greeted her sister.

End of Chapter 12


	14. The End of Glorificus

Chapter 13 – The End of Glorificus

Started: 06/20/2010

Completed: 06/21/2010

A/N1: Dawn and Amita are the same person.

A/N2: This chapter is rated PG.

"Hello, Glorificus," Amita said maliciously. "I've been waiting for you."

Amita quickly whispered an immobilizing spell and Glori was trapped where she stood.

"Amita, sister, you would join with my enemies against me?"

"I am not your sister," Amita said thru clenched teeth as she fought to maintain her composure. "You murdered my Identical; for that I will destroy you."

For the first time in her very long and colorful life Glori felt bone chilling fear. She knew how important Amita's Identical was to her. In the history of her people only Glori herself had ever hated or killed her own Identical. According to their beliefs two Identicals make up a whole being; only Glori herself felt that her Identical held her back, kept her from achieving her true greatness, which is why she killed her own twin.

Looking at Amita now she could see why Identicals were necessary. If Amita's Identical was here now, she would no doubt prevent Amita from killing. With only the dark side of Amita now existing and with the rage that Amita now felt toward her, Glori knew that there wasn't much that she could do against her sister. She knew that at full strength she was no match for Amita and she didn't know how long Amita had been in this dimension or what her strength level was. She thought to herself 'If Amita is working with the slayer, then I cannot win. I must convince her that what I did was for the benefit of all of our people. But how do I do that? Think, Glorificus; _think_.'

Amita knew that Glori would try to talk her way out of her current situation, so without hesitating she issued the summoning command in a language that only she and Glori understood.

Quicker than human eyes could see two identical men, who could be described as no less than magnificent, stood on either side of Glori and attached some kind of disabling device to her wrists which would separate her from her host and weaken her. Amita steadied Cordelia before she slumped to the floor leaving Glori trapped between her two brothers. The two of them faced Buffy and spoke in a voice that seemed to come from every direction at once.

"Thank you, slayer, for your assistance in capturing this dangerous criminal. We regret the harm that she has done in your dimension. She will never bother you again. You have our word. And thank you for protecting our dear sister, Amita. We leave you now. Farewell."

With that Glori and the two men disappeared.

Dawn hugged each of her friends one last time. "If you ever need me you know how to reach me," she whispered to Buffy as she kissed her on the cheek.

"I love you, Dawnie," Buffy said through tears.

"I love you, too," Dawn replied also through tears as she disappeared.

"Be careful, Dawn," Buffy whispered to the empty space where Dawn stood mere moments before.

"It's over." Buffy's voice was hoarse as she spoke through tears into her communicator; a cheerful roar was heard from their four houses as team members poured out of the front doors and the sewer accesses heading for Buffy's house.

Everyone (minus Dawn) crowded into Buffy's living room and dining room. She explained to them what had happened with Glori and Dawn. They had not lost a single person this night thanks to careful planning, Buffy's abilities with magic and support from the Powers and Dawn. She healed all of the injured, thanked them for their excellent support in the battles and instructed everyone to return to their assigned houses and relax. No one said a word against that.

As everyone left to return to their assigned houses (or rooms in Buffy's house) Cordelia noticed that Angel was not with them. She turned around and called to him, "Angel, are you coming?"

Without taking his eyes off Buffy he replied, "No. I'm staying here."

"Angel, our work here is done; we need to get back to LA," Cordelia offered as a last ditch effort. True she was not in love with Angel, but she just hated losing to Buffy Summers. Noticing his lack of response and the look of adoration on his face as he gazed at Buffy, she gave up in a huff and joined the rest of the AI group leaving Angel and Buffy alone in the living room.

Angel recalled his meeting with the rest of the AI team before they left LA.

_Begin Flashback_

_Cordelia walked into the Hyperion just as Angel hung up the phone after speaking with Buffy._

_She was greeted with "Cordy, are you all right?" "Where have you been? We haven't seen you in over a week." Cordelia just stared at them. She did not know where she had been._

_Angel proceeded. "I called this meeting to let you know of my plans. I will not be staying in Los Angeles. I have already turned Angel Investigations over to Wesley. He will decide the direction the business will take going forward. It will be up to the rest of you to decide whether or not to stay on and work with him. As for me, my future lies in another direction. There is nothing left for me here. Now that my mate is back in this dimension I will never leave her side again."_

"_In other words you're turning your back on us and choosing to be with Buffy instead. Is having sex with her so important that you're willing to forget about helping the helpless just so you can jump into bed with your precious Buffy?" Cordelia asked with a derisive sneer, her face contorted in anger._

"_Cordy," Fred said, totally shocked at Cordelia's lack of respect when speaking to Angel._

"_Damn, girl, that was cold," Gunn said as he glared at Cordelia._

_Angel maintained the cool and unruffled facade he had long ago perfected. "It's okay, Gunn." He turned to Cordelia as if for the first time seeing who she really was. "Cordy, I don't expect you to understand my actions and I am not inclined to offer you explanations. I have had all that I can take of your bad attitude and your jealousy of Buffy. She is my mate and my wife and nothing on this earth will keep me from her ever again. Now, if you will all excuse me, I have to pack."_

_Angel left the office and headed up to his rooms but he could hear everything that was being said downstairs._

_Wesley, Gunn and Fred turned to glare at Cordelia._

"_What? All right, all right, I'm sorry. Okay?"_

_Wesley was livid. "Cordelia, what you said to Angel was uncalled for. You can't just spew whatever venom that comes out of your mouth and think that saying you're sorry will make it okay. You have to be a more responsible adult."_

"_I said I'm sorry. What do you want from me?"_

"_If you are going to work for me, you are going to have to be more careful in how you treat our clients and your fellow employees. Since you don't have your 'visions' anymore, we won't be dependent upon them. I'm assuming that your contribution to the team will be in clerical activities and research. I'm not Angel. I will not tolerate your insolence, disrespect or shoddy work."_

"_Who the hell do you think you are, Wesley?"_

"_As of fifteen minutes ago your boss, as long as you work here."_

_Cordelia left the office in a huff. They did not see her again until today when she was separated from Glori._

_End Flashback_

Angel approached Buffy. "What will you do now?" he asked.

"First I need to get rid of the remaining demons in Sunnydale and LA that were recruited by Glorificus and the First Evil. After that my instructions are clear, but I am not at liberty to share them with anyone at this time."

"I will help you in cleaning up Sunnydale and LA. Then, whatever your instructions, whatever your destiny, wherever you go, I'm going with you and I will fight by your side for the rest of my life."

Buffy thought for long moments. Could she trust him again? Could she let him back into her life, open her heart to him again? She knew that she still loved him; it wasn't a matter of love, it was a matter of trust.

"How can I trust you, Angel? The last time I saw you in LA you were declaring your love for Cordelia and as recent as a week ago in this living room you were more vocal than anyone else accusing me of keeping secrets from you in not telling you that Cordelia was Glori's host and accusing me of not doing all I could to help save Cordelia's life. You apologized, yes, but the fact is you were capable of thinking and saying those words in the first place. Why do you want to go with me anyway and if you are so hung up on Cordelia, why don't you just stay with her?"

"I was wrong, Buffy, I was so wrong, about so many things. I know that my words to you and my actions haven't always been loving and supportive, starting in 1999 when I walked away from you. I know that I have hurt you deeply on more than one occasion and for that I am more sorry than I can say, but I promise you on my life and my honor that I have come to my senses and that I love only you. I was foolish and blind before and I can only beg for your forgiveness. I want to spend the rest of my life supporting you and showing you just how much I do love you."

The sincerity in his voice almost convinced her when he said, "Please, Buffy, I'm begging you; please give me another chance; allow yourself to love me again. I promise you that never again will I let you down or give you a reason to feel that you cannot trust me and I will not allow anyone or anything to ever come between us again."

"Look, Angel, what I have ahead of me is too important for me to let myself be distracted by anything or anyone that would interfere with my achieving my goal."

"I don't want to interfere, Buffy, I want to help – for as long as it takes."

"Do you know what you're saying? We are not talking about a couple of years here; we are talking about much, much longer. Now that your soul is bound you have a chance for real happiness. You are doing good work in LA. Don't throw that away."

"The only real happiness that exists for me is by your side and that is where I want to be for the rest of my life."

She looked directly into his eyes when she said, "Don't disappoint me, Angel."

"Never again," he said and gave her that little half smile that made her heart melt.

That was it then. It hadn't been the words of promise, or the begging, or the pleading that had convinced her. It was that damn half smile.

Buffy had to smile herself.

"Then I can tell you. My instructions are from the Powers. This dimension was meant for human beings. I have to rid it of evil demons and hybrids. No matter how long it takes I have to fight until every unnatural source of evil has been eliminated from the earth."

"Then that is what we will do. Together."

He gathered her in his arms and kissed her, softly and gently at first, but then the kiss took on a life of its own as it threatened to engulf them whole. She was breathless when they ended the kiss.

"Wow, if you can promise me kisses like that for the rest of my life, then I will be a happy woman," Buffy said smiling, her face flushed and her eyes sparkling with love and happiness.

"I can tell you," Angel whispered seductively into her ear, "I get better with practice."

Fortunately he was still holding her because at that moment her knees decided to give out on her and she slumped against him. "I think we'd better put in a lot of practice time before we start our journey," she said breathing heavily.

Angel agreed as he picked her up in his arms and, holding her close to his chest, he headed up the stairs to begin… practice.

End of Chapter 13


	15. The CleanUp

Chapter 14 – The Clean-Up

Started: 06/29/2010

Completed: 06/30/2010

The plan was simple.

Step one: Seal off this dimension to prevent the influx of demons that used portals to teleport in and out whenever they chose and were therefore impossible to find because they had no lair or central location here. Those trapped here would be destroyed and no others would be allowed access.

Step two: Take out the hottest spots first. How did Buffy and Angel know where the hottest spots were?

- One, there were slayers-in-training and their watchers stationed all around the world who were confronted with evil every day; these watchers reported in to Giles on a regular basis.

- Two, once she arrived at a city or general locale that had been identified, Buffy could sense a concentration of evil just by walking around the city; it felt like prickly heat on her skin. The feeling was stronger than the tingle that she got when a vampire was near.

- Three, Angel could also sense when vampires and other demons were near.

Step three: Identify and release any non-evil humans trapped unwillingly within hybrids, such as werewolves like Oz and half Brachens like Doyle had been.

The first hot spot that they found was in the Republic of Kenya in East Africa where dozens of huge V'Ntouse demons, who had recently opened portals into the middle of a highly populated area, were in the process of collecting as many people as possible with plans to leave very quickly.

Buffy closed the portal leaving the demons no escape, then after attacking and destroying all except one of the intruders, she and Angel captured that one and forced him to talk. They wanted to know what would happen to the humans that had already been taken.

They learned that the captives would be immediately drained of their life force then returned and dumped at some isolated place in the country. The captured demon said that the human life force kept a V'Ntouse young and virile and after they were done with the humans they did not want the useless human husks left in their beautiful city.

Enraged by his words Buffy killed the V'Ntouse, then she and Angel teleported over to his 'beautiful city', which turned out to be nothing more than a garbage dump, and for three days killed every demon they could find.

The second hot spot was in Kazakhstan in Asia south of Russia. Vampires had a stronghold in the eastern portion of the country where they would capture teenagers and young adults, keep them prisoners and use them for food.

Angel infiltrated their headquarters with Buffy as a 'hostage' and when the group's leader recognized him, he thought that Angelus had decided to join them with a slayer as an offering. He was the last of his group to be dusted. His last words were "We had a good thing going here, Angelus, why did you have to ruin it?"

To which Angel replied, "Didn't I tell you, I'm not Angelus."

And so it went, one hot spot after another was removed and life was allowed to return to normal for the locals, most of the time without their knowing what had happened.

For the first five and a half years that Buffy and Angel traveled the world destroying evil no one seemed to notice anything out of the ordinary. Then a small article in an Irish newspaper reported that there seemed to be a decline in that country in the number of unusually disturbing, gruesome and ritualistic human deaths due to unknown circumstances.

A few weeks later newspapers from all over the world started reporting similar facts. Then someone started reporting statistics and one by one countries around the world did the same.

In addition to its statistics a London newspaper reported, "Along with the decrease in exceptional deaths, it is now obvious that when a death is not due to accident, sickness, disease or natural causes there is evidence that a human being is responsible, leaving us with far fewer unsolved crimes. We also note that in some cases humans are actually being nicer to each other. This is not to say that human crimes have decreased, oh no, it is just that the severity of human crimes seems to have decreased; it is a trend that we can only hope will continue."

Buffy and Angel ran into Oz in Istanbul where he and his mate were living in a camp with other peaceful weres. When the offer was made, to a person each one willingly gave up the were status in order to be returned to a normal human being.

The same thing happened over and over again as they encountered weres around the world. Only once did a were turn down the offer, demanding that the weres in his camp do the same. When they refused his demand and accepted Buffy's offer, he immediately changed to the wolf and tried to attack them. They had to retaliate and defend themselves.

Some encounters with evil did not go as well as others and the two traveling warriors were often left sickened at heart and with much regret over not having been able to save more human lives.

Near the end of their journey Angel began to notice changes in himself. For one thing he did not need blood as often as normal and he could stand low-level sunlight without bursting into flame.

Then one night as he served Buffy the take-out dinner that he had ordered for her, it smelled so delicious that he took one of the shrimp off her plate and popped it into his mouth without thinking. Buffy hid her smile from him and did not say anything; she knew what was happening, Angel was becoming human.

After dinner Buffy asked, "So how was the shrimp?"

Angel stared at her for a moment then broke into a big smile that lit up his whole face. "Love, is it really true? Am I becoming human?"

"Yes, Angel, it's true."

He picked her up and spun around, both laughing and crying at the same time.

"We have one stop in LA and a couple of stops in Sunnydale to make and then you should be one hundred percent human."

"Why do we have to go to LA?"

"Remember your friend Lorne," Buffy asked.

"What about him?" Angel asked hesitantly.

"I wonder if he would like to look more human, you know get rid of the green skin, the red eyes and the horns."

"Buffy, I think he would love it." He thought for a moment. "Does this mean that Spike is becoming human too?"

"I'm sure that he will sooner or later. The Powers will probably decide to free the remaining trapped human hybrids. I don't have the authority to make the decision regarding peaceful vampires. If I did, I would have made you human a long time ago."

He kissed her. "I know. I don't feel any different. I mean, I feel as strong as ever."

Buffy had an idea about that, but she couldn't say for sure, so she didn't say anything. Her thoughts were that the Powers had plans for Angel that required him to maintain his strength. Only time would tell.

"We'll just have to wait and see what the Powers have in store for us next."

Just as in other locations around the world whenever demonic evil had been eliminated on a continent and the slayers-in-training on that continent were released as well, the same thing happened in America. This meant that the American slayers-in-training along with Faith were released and Faith was no longer a slayer.

In Sunnydale Buffy visited Spike's friend, Clem, and gave him a makeover so that he could blend into human society and she visited Oz's cousin, Jordy, whose family had been given a heads up by Oz and was anxiously awaiting her. The young boy gave her a big hug when she removed the wolf from him.

Now her work was almost done.

"It's finally coming to an end," Angel told her. "No more evil demons in the world."

"Yes. It's been a long journey, but after eleven and a half years it is finally coming to an end," Buffy replied.

"Faith's release makes you the last living slayer."

"I know. I don't know what the Powers' plans are for me now. I'll just have to wait and see."

"Whatever their plans are, I hope they include me, because I'm going wherever you go. I asked you this question a long time ago, before we started this journey and I need to ask you again. 'What will you do now?'"

"And I told you this an even longer time ago and I will tell you again, 'I want my life to be with you.'"

Before Angel could take more than two steps toward her, a bright light appeared in the room and two Oracles stepped out. The female Oracle spoke. "As promised, slayer, the Powers are ready to grant you immortality or a return to your reward in heaven. What is your choice?"

Before she gave them her decision, Buffy wanted to know why Angel had retained his strength, heightened senses and healing abilities.

The Oracles did not have the details but they told her that there were parallel dimensions to their own that had lost their traveling warriors and that there might be times when she and Angel would be called upon to travel to other dimensions to finish the work started by other warriors.

Buffy remembered what Grand M had told her about the women in their family, that they tended to age well, but what about Angel?

"But what about aging? Aren't we going to get older?"

"Eventually, yes," the female Oracle told her, "but not until all of the human dimensions have been rid of evil demons and made safe for humans to live in peace. This is not to say that you will be asked to travel often, after all, you have earned your reward and it has been promised to you."

Buffy looked at Angel who nodded briefly.

"If that's the case then, we wouldn't have any objections to helping out in other dimensions so that they can live without demon influence."

Both Oracles smiled. The Powers knew their champions well. "Your choice then?"

Buffy's choice was neither; she would answer the Powers' requests to help out in other dimensions, but now that Angel was human, she wanted to live as normally as possible, to live with her angel.

And live they did. They married and had seven beautiful children, four boys and, just when they thought they would not have a daughter, Buffy gave birth to triplet girls who, to Angel's great delight, all looked like mini Buffys.

All of the children got to meet and adore Joyce, Grand M and the rest of the family. They looked forward to each family reunion because they took place in the family's 'home dimension' where Grand M regaled them with stories of their ancestors.

The warriors were called on only once to travel to another dimension and that was before Buffy's first pregnancy. Thereafter their lives were their own.

And Buffy, Angel and their children, and their children, and well you get the idea, lived very long and very happy lives.

The end

A/N: Okay I added that bit at the end because I just love happy B/A endings.

Thank you very much to everyone who sent feedback.

I hope you enjoyed reading this story as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Nitrowugs


End file.
